Argentine councillor visits Herefordshire Council

Councillor Cesar Imbellone from Buenos Aires in Argentina visited Herefordshire Council on a fact-finding mission to discover more about the county's recycling facilities and what happens to the end product.

He met with Michael Hainge, Herefordshire Council's director of environment and culture, and Councillor John Jarvis, Herefordshire Council's cabinet member for the environment and strategic housing at the council's Plough Lane offices.

Councillor Imbellone, who sits on congress for the rural region of Capilla Del Monte in the state of Cordoba, said: "In our country we don't recycle much and this means we have lots of problems with rubbish.

"I wanted to see how recycling works here and what happens to the end product and felt Herefordshire's experience of doing this in a very rural area would help me see how it could work in my own very rural region in Argentina.

"My region has a population of 4.7million and investing in recycling would help to create jobs in the area and build up the economy and safeguard our environment," he added.

Councillor Imbellone also visited the Material Reclamation Facility (MRF) at Rotherwas run by Severn Waste which is where the contents of the purple and clear bags of recyclate are sorted.

The final material is either bulked (news and mixed paper) or baled into mill size bales (film, card, plastic bottles, ferrous cans and aluminium cans).

Councillor John Jarvis, Herefordshire Council's cabinet member for the environment and strategic housing, said: "It was interesting to host this visit and Councillor Imbellone was very interested in what we do in the county with recycling.

"He was also pleased to hear we are to keep a weekly refuse collection service in Herefordshire as well as increase opportunities for recycling," he added.

As a memento of his visit, Councillor Imbellone was presented with a Herefordshire Council tie and pin.