Shops want to recycle too!

6.11.42pm UTC (GMT +0000) Mon 27th Jun 2005

Staff at a leading Twickenham florist have enlisted MP Vincent Cable to persuade Richmond Council to start recycling enormous amounts of waste generated by local businesses. At present, businesses, large and small pay for their waste to be taken away, unsorted, for land fill; as a result vast amounts of green waste - from florists and garden centres - which could be composted - is thrown away as is cardboard, packaging material and other waste.

The staff of Serenata, formerly Broadway Florists, are campaigning to get the council to operate a scheme under which businesses sort their waste for recycling and the council collect it. Vincent Cable, who is supporting the move said: "it is perverse, and demoralising to environmentally aware residents, that no attempt is being made to recycle the waste of some of the biggest waste generators. Shops are told that, if they want to recycle, they should go to Townmead, but they are unlikely to do this during their opening time - and they are then charged by weight for the waste. Progressive councils - like Bexley - already recycle commercial waste, on request, and ours should do the same. There are, I am sure, a lot of businesses like Serenata will want to participate. I have written to the borough's head of recycling asking what evaluation he has done of the potential for recycling commercial waste".