Brand new Household Waste Recycling Centre at Flusco

A brand new, state-of-the-art Household Waste Recycling Centre which will provide the template for a £2million revamp of HWRCs across Cumbria opens to the public today.

The Flusco centre near Penrith is four times bigger than the previous recycling centre on the site and allows a greater range of materials to be recycled. Now drinks cartons, plastic bottles and household batteries can all be recycled alongside cardboard, paper, cans/foil, wood, fridge/freezers, rubble/soil, scrap metal, textiles, electrical goods, glass, garden waste and oil.

It is designed for householders only, and has new facilities and a new layout to make it easier to use. It also has longer opening hours of 8am to 6pm, 7 days a week.

The changes are expected to increase recycling rates at the site from the current 9 per cent to at least 50 per cent.

Waste prevention officer Kim Williamson said: "At Flusco we are trying to provide as many recycling facilities as possible to make it easier for everyone to separate out resources from waste. It is really important that people use these facilities, not least because filling up landfill sites could soon cost the tax payer £150 a tonne. Every time you put rubbish in the general waste skip, that rubbish will go straight to the landfill site. It is taking up space, adding to climate change and polluting the environment. The message is clear - please recycle."

Jack Richardson, county council environment spokesman, said: "The progress we have made on recycling in Cumbria over the last two years or so has been pretty impressive - but we are not being complacent and realise that there is a lot more to do.

"These improvements at Flusco will help us to keep on improving our record and it is just the first step in a plan to re-furbish all the main recycling centres in the county.

"We understand that we as local authorities must do better and give people good, convenient opportunities to recycle and we are trying to do that - ultimately though, what we are talking about here is household waste and it is the householders not the local authorities who are responsible for producing it.

"You have to come at it from both sides and all the local authorities in Cumbria are upping their game and working together to tackle the issues, but in the end comes down to families and individuals and how much waste they produce," said Councillor Richardson.

Cumbria County Council has spent half a million pounds building the new Flusco recycling centre. It`s the first stage of a plan to spend £2million refurbishing the county`s other main HWRCs at Kendal, Carlisle, Workington, Whitehaven and Barrow.

Further information on recycling in Cumbria