I must confess that 'Recycle Week' almost passed me by. If it had not been for one of my colleagues commenting that: "...it was rather apt that the announcement to save Romsey's tip at Casbrook Common came in Recycling Week..." I may have missed the week completely.

I appreciate that Recycling Week is not exactly a major annual event which we all mark in our calendars—perhaps it should be—but I would have expected it to generate a little more publicity than it otherwise has, especially given the emotive topic recycling tends to be.

When I’m out talking to residents, one of the top complaints I receive in Test Valley Borough Council’s area is the lack of doorstep recycling provision. The more we recycle, the less we have to incinerate and landfill.

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It is such a hot topic that both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats promised to improve local recycling if they won control of the council at the 2023 Borough elections.

Both parties pledged that if they were in control after the 2023 election, from 2024 we would be able to recycle plastic pots, tubs and trays, plastic wrapping and cartons in our recycling bin.

Doorstep glass collection from our homes was also promised.

Perhaps Recycling Week is a good time to remind the current Test Valley administration of that pledge.

In case you’re wondering, and for fairness and balance, one of the other more prominent complaints I receive is about the number of recycling bins required and the potential for more bins to come as more materials get recycled, especially if home is a flat or a terraced house.

No one said waste management was easy!

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However, this week a BBC investigation found the burning of household waste to generate electricity is now the UK’s dirtiest form of generating power.

‘Energy-from-waste’ incinerators, like the one at Marchwood, are now producing the same amount of greenhouse gases per unit of electricity as they would if they were burning coal.

Around half of all UK household rubbish is being incinerated. This includes increasing amounts of plastic, which is in part a result of inadequate plastic recycling services, such as that experienced by Test Valley residents.

Once considered a greener alternative to landfill, the use of incinerators is being more widely questioned.

But the fact can't be avoided that as the UK finally ends the production of electricity using coal, ‘energy-from-waste’ incinerators are now the dirtiest form of electricity production in the country.

Ending incineration is problematic; unrecyclable waste would have to go to landfill and Hampshire is running out of landfill capacity.

Either way, incinerating more plastic will produce more greenhouse gases. More greenhouse gases equals more climate change.

So please do not let Recycle Week pass you by.

The little changes we make, and stick to all year round, can make a difference.

For this Recycling Week at least, please join the ‘Rescue Me’ campaign on recyclenow.com and rescue recyclable items heading to the rubbish bin and on to those incinerators.

In the meantime, let's all hope for better recycling provision by Test Valley Borough Council in time for next year’s Recycling Week!

For more details go to recyclenow.com.

Geoff Cooper

Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Spokesperson for Romsey and Southampton North