London Councils' has hailed the opening of a £45m waste facility at Frog Island in Rainham as a major stepping-stone in borough-led campaigns to improve recycling rates in the capital. Frog Island is operated by Shanks Waste Solutions on behalf of the East London Waste Authority (ELWA), which is responsible for waste disposal in the boroughs of Barking and Dagenham, Havering, Newham and Redbridge. The plant is part of EWLA's 25-year contract with the boroughs, which will invest a total of £100m in waste facilities. It has a target for recycling 33% of the annual 535,000 tonnes of waste from the four boroughs by 2016 – but currently the councils only recycle some 14%. The mechanical/biological treatment (MBT) plant will process more than 180,000 tonnes of household waste annually, extracting recyclable materials and producing fuel from the remaining waste London Councils chairman, Cllr Merrick Cockell, said: ‘Boroughs are working hard to increase recycling rates. ‘We expect the figures for 2006/07 to show an increase in the London-wide recycling rate of 20%. This new facility will help drive it up higher still.'
