Household Waste Management Strategy 2017-2027

It's an exciting time to be leading a waste management service with so much change being driven by central government following publication of the 25 Year Environment Plan, the Resource and Waste Strategy for England, the subsequent consultations on responsibilities of packaging producers, achieving consistency in household waste collections, introducing a deposit return scheme and the introduction of a plastic packaging tax followed by the publication of the Environment Bill as recently as 15 October 2019.

Under our previous waste management strategy, we made significant progress in managing our waste in accordance with the waste hierarchy - reduce, reuse, recycle, recover energy and landfill as a last resort. The increase in the council's recycling rate for household waste to over 42% and the contracts we awarded for recovery of energy from waste have seen the waste we send to landfill reduce to less than 16% in 2018-19.

But there is still more to do. Linked to the council's target of seeking to achieve net zero carbon by 2030, the service will continue to work with our contractors and residents to divert more waste from landfill. From early in 2020 we will change the way in which we collect recyclable materials from the kerbside to make it even easier for residents to sort their recycling at home. Once the changes are made residents will be able to put more materials in their blue lidded bins. In addition to cardboard, plastic bottles, pots, tubs and trays and food and drink cartons, households will be able to put paper, food and drink cans, aerosols and clean foil in their blue lidded bin. The black box will be used for glass and textiles only.

Government has committed to publishing detailed proposals in 2020 to implement the requirements set out in the recently published Environment Bill. Any new legislation is likely to take effect in 2023. Other changes may arise next year as the UK plans to leave the EU. The annual update of the strategy and development of the action plan will include a review of the national and local context and clearly outline how the service will develop within the next year to meet the strategic aims and priorities documented within the overarching strategy. The council's future annual performance reports and action plans will reflect any changes in legislation which the council needs to plan to comply with.

This strategy outlines the priorities that the council will work to achieve in order to deliver the vision of working towards zero avoidable household waste in Wiltshire by managing household waste in accordance with the waste hierarchy, reducing litter and taking a zero tolerance approach to the criminal act of fly tipping.

Councillor Bridget Wayman

Cabinet Member for Highways, Transport and Waste

22 November 2019

For a full copy please email wasteandrecycling@wiltshire.gov.uk (opens new window) to request this.