Compulsory recycling
Everybody has to play their part in protecting the environment and we need more and more people recycling in Barnet.
We have adopted an innovative approach to recycling in Barnet by making it compulsory to recycle paper, tins and cans and bottles and jars using your Black Box. The compulsory recycling scheme does not apply to those in households who have shared refuse facilities such as flats.
Initially, we ran the compulsory recycling scheme on a trial basis in four wards beginning on 1 April 2004. The trial was so successful that compulsory recycling expanded across the borough, going boroughwide on 1 March 2005.
Between March 2005 and February 2006, compared to the previous year, there was a 28% increase in the amount of recycling we collected.
Since we became the first council to introduce compulsory recycling boroughwide similar schemes have been bought in by other councils including Hackney, Waltham Forest and Bromley.
- compulsory recycling FAQs
- compulsory recycling letter
(PDF: 49 KB) - sent to all households at the start of the scheme
