As I said I've been to a London Remade conference today on meeting our recycling targets for 2005/2006, which in Lewisham's case means going from 10% of the domestic waste being recycled to 18%.

There was an interesting presentation which outlined the challenge.  It pointed out that we need to move from a London average participation rate - the number of people that use the kerbside recycling on offer - of 46% (Lewisham's is 30%) to 80%.  They suggested that we are looking to increase the amount that each household recycles by 180kg a year, and that those living on estates by 120kg a year.

On the micro level I know that my household can probably increase our recycling by that much, but at the borough level it is going to be a real challenge.  And as they say we really need to be there by April 2005 (so that we can be sure that we don't have to over achieve over the next three quarters).