Waste and recycling strategy

Central government published a new national waste strategy in December 2018, and we have been reviewing our services and developing a new waste strategy for the New Forest in line with the government's objectives.

The national waste strategy

The government's national waste strategy, "Our Waste, Our Resources: A Strategy for England" was published in December 2018 and contains objectives for dealing with the nation's waste, and suggestions for how these objectives can be achieved.

In the future, the items that we collect in the New Forest and the way we collect them will be heavily influenced by the national waste strategy.

The strategy was subject to a consultation, and we responded to four key consultations between February and May 2019:

• Consistency in household and business recycling collections in England
• Introducing a deposit return scheme in England, Wales and Northern Ireland
• Reforming the UK packaging producer responsibility system
• Plastic packaging tax consultation

Our response: We welcome any measures that improve recycling and waste minimisation, and believe creating consistency in household recycling across the country and introducing a deposit return scheme would be progressive steps to meeting some of the strategy's key objectives.

Extending the producers' responsibility for packaging and the introduction of a plastic tax, are important actions that we hope will encourage businesses to use more recycled material and move this country towards a more circular economy.

We are pleased that government have indicated that local authorities will be equipped with funds to implement any legislative changes and look forward to seeing the outcome of these consultations.

The Environment Bill - January 2020

The results of the consultation indicated strong support for many of the objectives suggested in 'Our Waste, Our Resources: A Strategy for England' and this informed the content of the Environment Bill 2020 .

Proposals within the Environment Bill 2020 were subject to a consultation. We are responding to four consultations between May and July 2021. 

• Consistency in household and business recycling in England (NFDC will submit response by 4 July 2021)
• Extended producer responsibility (EPR) for packaging (response submitted)
• Introducing a deposit return scheme (DRS) in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (response submitted)
• Waste prevention programme for England: Towards a resource efficient economy (response submitted)

The development of the New Forest waste strategy

As a result of the above developments, a working group of council members and officers was formed in August 2019. The group has been working on developing a new waste strategy that will comply with forthcoming legislation but will also meet the needs of our community.

Our progress so far

The working group considered the following:

• New laws for the collection of food waste and recycling
• Different collections systems for collecting waste and recycling
• Initial informal residents feedback

• Current best practice and what other councils do

The Draft Waste Strategy (DWS) was approved on 4 November 2020 at the council's cabinet meeting. 

Draft waste strategy resident engagement 

We held a formal period of engagement from 12 November to 20 December 2020 providing residents and other stakeholders with the opportunity to learn more about the draft waste strategy, and to submit their views and comments to us using an online survey or paper survey form.

Survey responses, letters and emails received during the engagement period about the proposed changes to the waste and recycling service have been reviewed as we work on our final waste strategy. 

You can still read about the proposed changes to the waste and recycling service in New Forest and the reasons for the proposed changes in the documents below.

Draft Waste Strategy summary (web version)

Draft Waste Strategy summary [346.55KB] (PDF)

More information about the Draft Waste Strategy (web version)

More information about the Draft Waste Strategy [61.9KB] (PDF)

Draft Waste Strategy [2.84MB]

Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy approved - October 2021  

Our council have approved a new "Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy" (JMWMS) which will allow us to work collaboratively with district and borough councils in Hampshire to reduce our carbon impact, and comply with forthcoming government legislation.  

As we work on our own final strategy, the JMWMS will support us in sharing resources and working towards our goal to reduce waste and increase recycling.  

The new JMWMS aligns with the "preferred option" set out in our draft waste strategy. This includes:  

• An eventual move to a "twin-stream" recycling collection system for the New Forest district.  A twin-stream system means paper and card will be collected from one container, and glass bottles and jars, plastic bottles, tubs and trays, metal tins and cans in another 
• The introduction of weekly food waste collections within the next few years 

Specific information about the waste service for the New Forest, such as how often waste will be collected, and the types of containers and vehicles to be used, will be known when our final waste strategy is agreed.  

You can view the full JMWMS below. 

View the Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy

What will happen next

As we work on finalising the waste strategy, we are dependent upon: 

• Receiving greater clarity from central government on their intentions for council waste services
• Further work we will be doing with other councils in Hampshire to ensure we have a joined-up approach to managing the county's waste 

We do not expect to approve a final waste strategy until early 2022. We will then work on implementing changes to the waste and recycling service. 

If you have any questions about our waste and recycling strategy, you can contact us at wastestrategy@nfdc.gov.uk.