Southwark council has launched a new mobile recycling centre for residents to recycle any items that can’t be included in usual household recycling collections.

A specially designed vehicle is being used by the local authority. Each week, the vehicle will travel to various housing estates around Southwark and residents will be able to deposit items including textiles, wood, cardboard, small WEEE and batteries for recycling.

Southwark’s council developed the service with help from Veolia Environmental Services after receiving a grant of £50,000 from LWaRB – the London Waste and Recycling Board. Councillor Barrie Hargrove, the cabinet member of Southwark’s transport, environment, and recycling department said that the new mobile recycling centre represents another important step towards delivering the maximum amount of recycling opportunities to council tenants and leaseholders.

The vehicle, a specially-modified flat-bed lorry that has cabin housing recycling bins, embarked on its first collections on 3 March. The mobile centre paid visits to Dulwich’s Kingswood Estate and Peckham’s Consort Estate, where nearly a third of the total tonne’s worth of material was collected.

It has been confirmed that two estates per outing will be visited by the vehicle every Saturday. The others are the Brandon estate, the Comber estate, the Rockingham estate , Tabard Gardens, the Dickens estate, and, lastly, the Aylesbury estate. The chair of LwaRB, James Cleverly, said that the launching of the new mobile recycling service will allow residents living in flats a better opportunity to recycle more materials such as textiles and electrical goods without having to travel too far.