Waste success goes global

Last year Lichfield District Council was awarded the coveted Beacon Award for its top recycling scheme.

Part of being a Beacon Council means sharing skills with other councils to help boost recycling rates but the council's recycling team never expected to share with councils as far away as Bosnia and Herzegovina. Recently they welcomed visitors from two councils in the country.

Ahte Boshjak, mayor of Posusje, and Asima Music, head of spatial planning in Bosanska Krupa, met the recycling team and learned more about how they introduced the scheme.

They also found out how the council and residents pushed recycling onto the national agenda and inspired other councils.

Asima Music said: "At home local people are keen to recycle, but there is not nearly as much on the news and in the papers as there is here. We know we have got to make it into a bigger issue before we can achieve similar recycling rates."

Ahte Boshjak added: "It has been great meeting with the team, picking up hints and tips and collecting examples of the promotion materials the council used when they introduced their scheme. We have also picked up ideas about consulting with local residents and running workshops in the community and we are looking forward to putting them into practice when we get home."

Ruth Plant, Lichfield corporate director of operational services, said it showed how far the district had come. "It is great to think that by giving simple hints and tips to the teams at this stage that we could potentially help another country to recycle as much as we do in years to come.

"I am looking forward to keeping up with their progress and wish them the best of luck," she said.