Every Londoner throws away seven times their own weight in rubbish each year according to Recycle Now.

Recycling using the green box service is compulsory in Brent so we can continue to increase the amount of waste we recycle.

By increasing the amount of waste we recycle we are:
 

• reducing the need for landfill and cutting emissions that contribute to global warming
• reducing damage to the environment by saving energy and water
• ensuring natural resources are used efficiently.

It is important for us to increase the amount of waste we recycle as it is becoming increasingly expensive to use landfill sites for rubbish disposal and new legislation means that using landfill will not be an option in the future.

In addition there are serious environmental implications associated with sending waste to landfill sites. When waste is left in a landfill site it breaks down and as it does methane gases can be released into the atmosphere and leachate can leak into the ground. Methane is around twenty times more powerful than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas. Leachate is water contaminated by toxic chemicals that can poison the soil and water courses.

We encourage residents and businesses in the borough, and people who use our services to reduce the amount of waste they produce. Managing resources efficiently saves everyone money, and is essential to the continued prosperity of the country's economy.

Where waste is unavoidable, we ask everyone to reuse or recycle as much as possible. Up to 70 per cent of what you throw away in the dustbin could be recycled and put to good use. To help achieve this, we have a number of services in place, aimed at residents, schools, community groups and small businesses.

See our guide about how to reduce, reuse and recycle your waste to find out what you can do.

We will:

• deliver a good-quality waste management service in Brent
• remove waste according to advertised schedules
• manage our waste services to meet the Government's waste hierarchy.