About Our Beacon Status

Best Practice

Bexley Council's best practice includes following:

Waste Paper Collection Scheme covering nearly every household in the Borough, which is self-financing;
Home Composting through reduced price sale of compost bins;
Mini-Recycling Centres providing a range of facilities and micro-recycling facilities at schools, businesses and flats;
Waste to Energy using combined heat and power plant;
Waste Alert Project, developed with Bromley Council, which aims to help small businesses reduce their waste and waste disposal costs; and
Public involvement through Local Agenda 21 focus groups/forum and consultation.

Sharing our experience

Material from our Beacon application and the Waste Minimisation and Recycling Plan are available on this web site. There is also a web page with a feedback form.

How we came to be awarded Beacon Status

Bexley has a strong performance on recycling (25% of the Borough's waste in 1999/2000), combined with increases in the waste incinerated (up to 56%) at the SELCHP incinerator in south London. As a result we have reduced the level of waste going to landfill sites to just 19% of Bexley's waste. Recycling is achieved through an extensive network of local recycling sites, and a fortnightly waste paper collection to 90,000 households. Bexley has also developed a strong base of home composting and is set to achieve the Government target of 40% of households active in home composting in 2000. Future objectives will be set in line with Government targets and evaluation of door-to-door green waste and multi-material collections will form the basis for future expansion plans.

Bexley shows a strong commitment to the principles of sustainable development, with very well-developed community links and activity in Local Agenda 21 initiatives, which covers many waste issues. The Council also supports business waste minimisation through sponsorship of a Waste Alert project, in collaboration with neighbouring Bromley.

The Borough of Bexley is in south-east London and borders Kent to the east, Bromley to the South, Greenwich to the west and the river Thames to the north. The Borough has many industrial areas in the north, the south is mainly residential, the population is over 200,000. Bexley has unique status amongst London boroughs, having been a Collection and Disposal Authority since 1986.

Bexley's particularly strong performance on recycling and diversion from landfill, coupled with very strong community links through Local Agenda 21, led the Beacon Council Selection panel to conclude Bexley should be recommended for Beacon status.

2000-2001
Dealing with Waste