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Our 'not circular' economy

Haringey Council, the North London Waste Authority and the Government are making big changes to the way we must handle ‘waste’ and do more to Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.
Waste from Haringey residents is far from the ‘circular economy’ much talked about – though on par with many other Boroughs and heavily influenced by legislation coming down the line – covered below.

UK Government Actions

31 March 2025 Simpler Recycling (latest) Businesses and relevant non-domestic premises must collect glass, metal, plastic, paper and card, and food waste. “most households and workplaces will need 4 containers for:
– residual (non-recyclable) waste
– food waste (mixed with garden waste if appropriate)
– paper and card
– all other dry recyclable materials (plastic, metal and glass)
These may be collected in various container types, including bags, bins or stackable boxes.”

April 2025 – Packaging producers will pay waste authorities according to their excess packaging. (Extended Producer Responsibility – EPR). Money will be paid to waste authorities towards the net costs of collecting, managing, recycling and disposing of household packaging waste. 

By 31 March 2026  Local authorities must collect glass, metal, plastic, paper and card, and (weekly) food waste. Note there will be an exemption to allow the co-collection of food and garden waste, ideally with paper and card separate to other items. 

By 31 March 2027 Kerbside plastic film collections from businesses and relevant non-domestic premises, and households will be introduced.

October 2027 (intended launch) – Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) for plastic and metal drinks containers
“Of all littering measured by Keep Britain Tidy’s 2020 composition analysis, 55% of litter by volume was plastic and metal drinks containers.” and “Introducing a Deposit Return Scheme will create around 4,000 new jobs across the UK (based on a report by The Countryside Charity) and will bring investment in infrastructure required to deliver the scheme.”

Note that, when DRS plastic and metal drinks containers go to specialist collectors/processors and when there is less packaging, if producers reduce superfluous packaging, the amount going to NLWA’s recycling contractor will go down. Similarly the amount of plastic, metal and packaging in the residual (called ‘black bag’) waste will go down, so there will be less waste to incinerate.

Haringey's waste and recycling

Haringey’s ‘Destination 50%’

Haringey wants to increase its recycling rates from about 30% to 50% by 2030 with its Destination 50% programme. and the Haringey submission to the Mayor of London’s Reduce and Recycle Plan (RRP) says “A key element of this is to ensure services are delivered in accordance with Simpler Recycling, and using modelling to determine the best collection system, from 2027 when our current contract expires with Veolia.”

Give Haringey your ideas to do this:
– Tell us your recycling ideas here
– Input to the NLWA North London Joint Waste Strategy by 23rd Jan 2025 here

Find your Reuse and recycling centres, banks, donations and collections
Details of Haringey’s reuse and recycling centre, electrical and clothing banks and places to donate unwanted items are here.

To discover where recycling goes currently click on NLWA’s ‘Where does my recycling go?‘ 

Some Haringey initiatives from the RRP submission:

HGY2 Improved recycling at Council buildings, libraries and community centres
All 9 of Haringey’s libraries have recycling facilities for:
o   Household batteries
3 libraries also have printer cartridge facilities.
The following materials will be implemented at all libraries in July/ August
o   Keys
o   Printer cartridges
o   Light bulbs
o   Vapes
Two of the larger libraries will also have book and textiles recycling containers

HGY6 – Trade waste The commercial service promotes recycling in its service offer to schools and businesses and recycling collections are offered at a lower price than residual collections to encourage and maximise recycling.

HGY7 – Estates a workplan to target estates without food waste. This work is due to start in Autumn 2024 as resources are not available until then

HGY8 – HMOs – a review of the provision of recycling containment to ensure residents have the facilities to recycle.

HGY9 – Textiles – worked with TRAID in September 2023 on a home collection service

HGY18 – Corporate Plan In 2023 we invited reuse/ repair organisations to apply for funding to provide a feasibility study for running a reuse/ repair hub in the Borough. Haringey Fixers and Restart were the successful applicants, They have provided a preliminary report, and we are now working on the next steps and looking for suitable locations as the one initially earmarked is not available long-term

HGY19 – NLWA waste reduction includes:

  • Reusable period products. The ‘Reduce, Reuse, Your Cycle’ campaign was designed through the application of behavioural science and seeks to increase the purchase and use of reusable period products in north London. The campaign aims to decrease the purchase and use of single-use period products, leading to a reduction in the generation of single-use plastic waste   
  • Bring it……. a campaign that aims to encourage residents to use reusable coffee cups bottles, bags, and containers to reduce single-use plastic.
  • Reusable nappy subsidy.In 2023/24, NLWA increased the reusable nappy vouchers available for north London parents/carers to £70 per baby.

HGY20 – Veolia Fleet  ” We have completed a full review of the options to move to EVs or HVO as an intermediatory fuel. This has included a detailed assessment of the wider infrastructure requirements to transition to a full EV fleet at our current depot” (decision was due in October/November 2024)

For Haringey actions on waste and recycling note the new facilities in libraries across the borough here, for many everyday items containing valuable materials that can be reused or recycled

Further Haringey initiatives:

Christmas Tree Recycling here