A RECYCLING facility at Haverton Hill has celebrated a successful first year.

The household waste recycling site, run by Sita on behalf of Stockton and Middlesbrough borough councils, has been visited by hundreds of people since it was opened late in 2001.

An average of 3,500 to 4,000 vehicles visit the site each week, with as many as 1,000 visiting on Sundays.

Extensive recycling facilities can be found at the site and it is already processing twice as much material as the old Portrack site. Up to 1,500 tonnes of glass, metal, wood, cardboard and green waste have been recovered, whereas the Portrack site only managed to recycle only 625 tonnes of waste a year. In addition, 3,400 tonnes of soil and rubble had been recovered between April and September last year from the waste delivered to the site. This is used in landscaping and civil engineering projects as opposed to landfill.

Only five per cent of Stockton's household waste is now sent to landfill.

There are skips for household waste at the Haverton Hill site, as well as the full range of recycling facilities including wood, cardboard, glass, paper, paint, oil, asbestos, batteries - both car and domestic - clothes, books and green waste.