Household Waste Management Strategy 2017-2027

The council will work with national, regional and local partners to provide advice and information to encourage residents to reduce the amount of household waste they create.

We recognise that the household waste that residents produce is to some extent generated by packaging producers and retailers. This opinion is shared by our residents and elected members who echoed this sentiment during workshops and when responding to our consultation. Many commented that they felt that they were unable to buy goods without packaging, or in fully recyclable packaging. However those residents who have participated in waste reduction activities such as 'Waste Free February', a project focused on waste prevention, have demonstrated that it is often possible to reduce the amount of non-recyclable waste that they create.

The council will need to work with partners and community groups to help to inform people about the importance of managing their waste in accordance with the waste hierarchy and offering practical advice on how they do this.

There is public support for the council to work with town and parish councils through area boards to deliver local information, events or workshops. This demonstrates that our residents are keen for the council to focus on providing information to help them to move their waste further up the waste hierarchy.

In addition there was support from residents for the council to continue to work with schools and pre-schools to deliver workshops and assemblies with a focus on waste issues as residents and members all feel it is important to work with people from a very young age.

By working with area boards, town and parish councils and schools we hope to engage a wider cross-section of Wiltshire residents. A significant proportion of avoidable household waste is food waste which residents could reduce. We will work with residents to identify ways of reducing this waste and will continue to subsidise the purchase of food waste composters. These food waste composters are capable of composting all food waste generated by residents at home, without the need for the council to incur the significant cost of collecting and managing this waste separately.

The council will work with local reuse organisations and contractors to increase the opportunity for items to be repaired and reused.

The council will continue to work with national partners and manufacturers to promote sustainable design so that items can be easily repaired rather than having to be replaced.

We will continue to work with local communities to host 'Repair Cafés' where residents learn from local volunteers how to repair a range of items, for example clothing, electrical items and bikes. We are aware that there is a proportion of clothing in the non-recyclable waste bins which could have been repaired or reused and so is avoidable household waste. Some items which are deposited at the council's household recycling centres or collected via the bulky household waste collection service may also have the potential to be repaired for reuse and we will work with our contractors to identify these opportunities.

Repair and reuse should be prioritised ahead of recycling or disposal. To do this we will need to work closely with contractors and partners to ensure that reuse is built into the council's services. In addition we have a role in working with our residents to ensure that reuse and repair are convenient options for them to choose.

The council will continue to ensure that cost effective and efficient recycling services are provided so that residents are able to recycle a range of materials as easily as possible. The council will continue to review the potential for expanding the range of items collected for recycling and composting where it is environmentally and economically practical to do so.

In July 2018 we increased the range of materials collected for recycling. This included the introduction of kerbside collections of plastic pots, tubs and trays, food cartons and drink cartons. We anticipated that this would increase our household waste recycling rate but have to recognise that these are lightweight materials, so the impact may not be significant.

The council currently offers a chargeable kerbside collection service for garden waste. This is not a statutory requirement, but Wiltshire has a high participation rate and it is a service valued by residents. The amount of garden waste composted makes a significant contribution to the council's household waste recycling performance.

Reprocessors of recyclable materials require high quality recycling to be delivered in order that they can produce high quality recycled material. We will encourage residents to purchase recycled items where possible to generate a sustainable market for these materials. We will work with residents to ensure that they only put materials which can be recycled out for recycling collections. We will work with government to encourage requirements for minimum quantities of recycled materials in the manufacture of new products and packaging.

The council will continue to work with national partners to promote design so that items and packaging can be easily recycled.

The council collects a wider range of recyclable materials, including garden waste, at its household recycling centres. The council will work with residents to encourage them to separate as many recyclable materials as possible when visiting the sites.

Recovering energy from waste which cannot be reused or recycled remains strategically important for the council. The council will manage non-recycled household waste as a resource by delivering this to energy from waste facilities, rather than sending this waste to landfill. The council will continue to review the feasibility of constructing small scale energy from waste plants within Wiltshire.

Two of the most visible forms of avoidable waste are litter and fly tipped wastes. In its Business Plan the council recognises that to continue sustainable growth in our communities we need clean, safe and attractive environments.

There were over 2,800 incidents of fly tipping on land for which the council is responsible in 2018-19 and the council responded with over 3,300 enforcement actions ranging from initial investigation to prosecution of offenders. We will continue to use all the tools available to us to tackle this criminal activity.

We will continue to respond to reports of litter. This activity cost the council in excess of £2.5m in 2018-19 - money spent on clearing entirely avoidable waste which could have been better invested in delivering the council's priorities. We will support community initiatives such as litter picks and work with the council's Communications team to build on the success of the Clean up Wiltshire campaign.