By community correspondent Anish Kaul Recycling is being seen as more and more important by authorities and people everywhere. With issues like global warming and climate change becoming more important to people, measures are being taken to combat these changes.

In Kingston, the council has implemented a system which will be familiar to many of the people reading this. It involves sorting our rubbish into different sections e.g. food waste, cardboard waste ect so that it is easier to manage and to recycle.

Of course this takes a lot of time and effort, far more so than before the scheme was introduced. So is it yielding good results, is it worth the extra effort and are we seeing a change for the better in our local environment?

People’s opinions on the new scheme seem largely in favour of it with the some exceptions; residents of Kingston borough seem quite pleased with the scheme. ‘I’m pleased that the scheme has been introduced’ said one resident that I spoke to, another meanwhile said that ‘The scheme is hard work but is a good idea, we all need to recycle’. One or two of the residents that I spoke to were unhappy with the scheme, arguments being that recycling is not such a major issue while another resident was sceptical of whether it would produce results any better than before the scheme was introduced.

As for the results that it is producing, we will be unable to see whether or not the scheme has been a success until at least the year 2020. At this point, the time that Kingston borough has had to bring down its landfill waste by 65% will be up and so we will have to wait a while to judge whether or not the scheme has been worthwhile.

However you cannot argue that the council should be applauded for taking such steps. With challenging targets being set, the people of Kingston can take pride in their local recycling scheme and point to it should anyone accuse them of shunning responsibility in the current climate. Will all the effort that people are putting in be worthwhile? We’ll have to wait and see but there is a strong chance if everyone keeps this up, that we will see those targets met and a great improvement in our local environment.