The building of a new household waste recycling centre in Kettering, which will increase the volume of waste recycled in the town and reduce the amount of rubbish sent to landfill, has moved a step closer.

Northamptonshire County Council has been granted planning permission for the facility which will be located on the Telford Way Industrial Estate in the town.

The process of tendering for a contractor to develop the site has begun and construction is now scheduled to start early next year. It is hoped the new centre will open in August 2010.

The existing recycling centre in Cunliffe Drive, Kettering is too small to accommodate the number of visitors who wish to use it.

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The new, larger centre will accommodate more people and also, because of its increased capacity, help the county council meet new landfill diversion targets, which were established to reduce the amount of biodegradable waste going to landfill sites.

Cllr Heather Smith, County Council Cabinet Member for Environment, growth and transport, said: "Recycling rates are increasing throughout the county and it is appropriate that we continually seek ways in which to improve these rates. A new build of a recycling centre signals our commitment to improving the service of the household waste recycling centres within the county.

"It's extremely important that people recycle once they have reduced and reused as much as they can so that we prevent waste going to landfill. This obviously makes sense as far as the environment goes but it also makes good economic sense too.

"We also want to change the image of what were previously known as the 'tip' or the 'dump' to 'Recycling Centres' so that people pre-sort their waste so it is all recycled.

The county council has worked in partnership with Kettering Borough Council to enable this scheme to move forward.

(CD/JM)