High Heavens household recycling centre amongst the best in the country
High Heavens household recycling centre (HRC) has been held to be one of the top three in the country in a national competition.
The High Wycombe site was a finalist in the Let’s Recycle Awards for Excellence Civic Amenity Site category, which is open to entries from HRCs across the country, and was honoured with being in the top three shortlisted nationally.
High Heavens HRC, together with Buckinghamshire County Council’s other HRCs, is managed by partners FCC Environment. The judges were impressed by the layout and facilities at the site, with clear signage and traffic controls which make it especially easy and convenient for residents to dispose of 25 different types of waste in one place. There is excellent management of the waste to prevent mixing and contamination to ensure that as much material gets recycled as possible. Only one type of waste out of the 25 – asbestos – goes into landfill. Three quarters of the total material brought to the site is composted or recycled, and almost all of the rest goes for processing at the Greatmoor energy from waste facility.
Also key to the nomination was the strength of the team-work shown at the site, allowing staff to quickly and effectively manage the unexpected incidents that occur at any large and busy public amenity site.
Buckinghamshire County Council Cabinet Member for Planning & Environment Bill Chapple OBE said: “It’s an outstanding achievement for High Heavens household recycling centre to be judged one of the three best such sites in the country, and my personal congratulations go to the team there who work so hard to make sure that every visitor stays safe and gets the best from the site.
“When asked a few months ago, visitors across all of our household recycling centres gave staff a 99% customer satisfaction rating, showing that staff provide an equally excellent service at all ten of the county’s sites.”