re3, a waste management partnership for Bracknell Forest, Reading and Wokingham Borough Councils and FCC Environment, today published its Annual Environmental Report highlighting a record-breaking year in terms of landfill diversion. The report also provides an overview of new initiatives that were introduced during the year and reviews a range of new working procedures that were put in place to address the COVID-19 pandemic.

re3 annual report highlights another record-breaking year despite the pandemic

31 August 2021

Achievements and initiatives over the last 12 months have included:

• Less than 10% of household waste was sent to landfill which is the best performance since the partnership began in 2006.
• Introduction of the booking system at the Recycling Centres and operating the system under social distancing guidelines to ensure the continuity of this essential service whilst keeping residents and employees COVID safe.
• A successful roll out of food waste recycling across all three boroughs, resulting in over 8,000 tonnes of food waste being collected and sent to the anaerobic digestion facility - allowing all three councils to increase their recycling rates to over 50% for the first time.
• A record-breaking volume of materials were processed, including a 37% year on year increase in the volume of glass collected and over 2,700 tonnes of plastic sent for re-processing in the UK.
• Successful launch of re3paint - a new community paint reuse scheme aiming to reduce a paint waste which is now available at the Recycling Centres.

In a Joint Statement

Cllr Mrs Dorothy Hayes MBE, Bracknell Forest Council’s Executive Member for Environment and Chairman of the Joint Waste Disposal Board, Cllr Adele Barnett-Ward, Reading Borough Council’s Lead Councillor for Neighbourhoods & Communities and Cllr Parry Batth, Wokingham Borough Council’s Executive Member for Environment and Leisure, said:     

“We are very appreciative of the efforts undertaken by FCC Environment to deliver this essential service to our residents during the COVID outbreak. The pandemic has not only posed a significant risk to our staff and residents but also generated an unprecedented volume of waste that was sorted to a high standard to meet the industry requirements. Last year has proven that the hard work is paying off and despite the challenges the service could still be delivered with exceptional quality. The Councils could still introduce new services, such as the successful roll out of food waste recycling or be flexible to adjust to unexpected circumstances such as introducing a booking system at a short notice. This has helped us reach our 50% recycling target. We are very grateful to all residents for bearing with us last year, for respecting the staff and as always for doing their bit, so we can keep achieving our goals to benefit our communities and the environment.”

Rory Brien, FCC General Manager, re3 contractor added: “This year has been unlike any other in terms of the COVID-19 pandemic and we are very proud of our many achievements. Our key workers have all worked extremely hard through these unprecedented times, so we could provide an excellent service to the re3 residents and continue to sort, segregate, and process their waste and recycling throughout. Our employees hard work was recognised in the annual survey in which the site staff was awarded 98% user satisfaction score by the Recycling Centres users, which we are all very grateful for.”

Download the Annual Environmental Report 2020-2021 here

Press Release