Ken demands £1,000 fines for not recycling

Ken Livingstone says Londoners should face £1,000 fines if they fail to recycle their rubbish.

The Mayor wants a pioneering scheme in Barnet to be extended across the capital to drive up recycling rates.

It comes amid growing concern that London will fail to meet European targets requiring 25 per cent of household waste to be recycled by March next year.

The most recent figures show that the capital achieved only 13.2 per cent in the 2003/04 financial year - the second lowest of all English regions. In the past decade the city has been fighting a losing battle against waste. Recycling has increased but the amount of rubbish produced by a growing population has gone up more quickly.

In Barnet, recycling increased by 18 per cent when it was made compulsory during a trial in four wards. The scheme was extended across the whole borough in March, with early results said to be encouraging.

Mr Livingstone said: "If the Barnet scheme is working, I think it should be adopted London-wide."

In Barnet, 113,000 households are required to separate glass, cans, newspapers and magazines from their domestic rubbish and place them in a recycling box.

Those who refuse to recycle are sent a series of warning letters and

are visited by council staff.

As a last resort, they can be prosecuted for refusing to comply with the Environmental Protection Act, which carries a maximum £1,000 fine.

To date, no fines have been issued, but a Barnet spokeswoman said it was "poised" to issue enforcement notices in the next few weeks.

A new report from business campaign group London First reveals that the volume of domestic waste produced in the capital has risen since 1995, though the rate of growth has begun to slow.

Across the UK, 31 million tonnes of waste are produced by households every year. In London, the figure is 4.4 million.

Jo Valentine, chief executive of London First, said: "It is a disgrace that we are recycling only 13 per cent of our waste when several European cities are already recycling over 50 per cent."

Mr Livingstone said he intended to redraft his London Plan, which sets out a legal blueprint for the capital's development, to set more ambitious environmental targets for the 33 borough councils.

He wants to establish a single waste authority for London, replacing the handful of regional authorities that currently exist, to take a more active approach to disposing of waste in an environmentally friendly way. At present, most is buried in landfill sites.

He described the 25 per cent recycling target as "challenging but achievable" and pointed to a £50 million investment in the London Recycling Fund, which he expects to have a "significant impact".