For those of us that can remember the austerity of the War years and the rationing of basic goods and materials, the opportunities that can be achieved from recycling or re-using items comes as no surprise.

However, we have now moved forward 50 years with new generations and new technologies, which, in themselves, have brought forward new problems, particularly within the packaging industry and the concept of a "throw away" society. This does not mean that society does not care what happens to its waste, but it is now timely that we should be reminded of the environmental impact of the last 50 years that is now becoming apparent.

We should now take the opportunity to take one step back and think a little more about what we put into our dustbins and consider other alternatives; do we really need it?, can someone else use it?, can it be recycled? These are all positive ways we can help to reduce and thereby help to improve our environment.

The District Council fully accepts the responsibilities placed upon it by the Government to introduce recycling plans that seek to reduce the domestic waste stream by 25% by the year 2000.

Councillor Clive Wood
Chairman of the Environment Committee
9 June 1993

Recycling Centre, Newton Road, Rushden by Councillor Harold E Gregory, Chairman of the Council Friday 11 June 1993
10.55 am	Guests to assemble in front of the recycling building.	11.15 am	Chairman of the Council to cut ribbon across entrance to Recycling Centre building.
11.00 am	Introduction and welcome by Roger Heath, Chief Executive, District Council.	11.17 am	Tour of recycling facility by Jeremy Smith, General Manager of Cory Environmental Municipal Services.
11.05 am	Tree planting Chairman of the Council Councillor Harold E Gregory Chairman of the County Council Councillor Mrs E M Dicks JP Chairman of the Environment Committee Councillor C Wood Cory Environmental Municipal Services Jeremy Smith, General Manager	11.30 am	Tour of recycling facility to conclude in Education Room and guests to assemble for official speeches.
		11.30 am	Address from the Chairman of the District Council, Councillor Harold E Gregory to conclude with the official opening by the unveiling of commemorate plaque.
		11.35 am	Response from General Manager of Cory Environmental, Mr Jeremy Smith.
		11.40am	Cutting of ceremonial cakes.
		11.45 am	Guest invited to join the Chairman in a light buffet lunch in the Education Room.

The District Council has an obligation to arrange a refuse collection service in its area to ensure that on a weekly basis all domestic properties have their dustbins emptied. With the introduction of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, various responsibilities have been placed upon the District Council with regard to waste management. The Government is committed to increasing the level of recycling of ) domestic waste from approximately 5% at present, to 25% by the year 2000.

East Northamptonshire District Council has opened two recycling centres, the first at Herne Park, East Road, Oundle to serve the northern area of the district and the second at Newton Road, Rushden to serve the southern area of the district. The contract for the management and operation of the District Councils Recycling Facilities has been awarded to Cory Environmental Municipal Services.

These sites are purely recycling centres collecting materials such as glass, flat packed cardboard, paper (high quality and newspaper and magazines), metals (drink and food cans and white goods such as fridges and freezers), compostable material (garden/plant waste), oil, batteries (car and domestic), clear plastic bottles and textiles. They also offer a CFC recovery service, a confidential waste paper shredding service and a garden/waste mulching service for garden waste.

The Rushden Recycling Centre and the adjoining car park, occupying the comer site on Rectory Road and Newton Road, Rushden, is itself no stranger to the principles of recycling as the main building served initially, since its construction in 1936 to 1980, as the local centre for the United Counties Omnibus Company and, during the period from 1980 to 1990, as the headquarters of a thriving builders merchants.

Even earlier than these activities, the eastern frontage of the site to Newton Road was occupied by a group of buildings with the collective name of "Ebenezer Terrace", built and named after Ebenezer Claridge, one of the first shoe makers in the town. The terrace of 16 houses, constructed in 1861, was, in part, possibly constructed of recycled materials re-using limestone from previous agricultural cottages in the rear and end elevations, with the main frontage being constructed from local produced bricks.

Ebenezer Terrace epitomised the earliest stage of Rushden's development from an agricultural/lace making community to a shoe manufacturing town. In 1871 all but two of the residents were occupied in shoe making and wives and children would make a large contribution towards the finished products; to facilitate this "industry", a number of two storey workshops were included in the development which illustrated so well a transitional stage in the boot and shoe industry from individuals working at home to the mass employment of labour in large factories which proliferated by the end of the Century.

One of the exceptions to the activities in Ebenezer Terrace was William Lockie, a tin plate worker, who produced much of his craft as an integrated part of the "new" factories and whole of this business which still exists in the town in Fitzwilliam Street.

What remained of the Terrace, workshops and associated buildings, were demolished under slum clearance legislation in 1986, the only remainder being the date stone which has been incorporated within the boundary wall to the car park as an historical memento of an important part of the industrial history of Rushden.

Fortunately, prior to the demolition, the Rushden Amenities Society commissioned Mr B Giggins, to survey the rear workshops and details are re-produced with kind permission of the Society. [Demolished 2014]