Draft Waste Strategy summary

We are proud to deliver waste and recycling services directly to the doors of our 82,000 households across the district every week. We know it's important to our residents that we get these services right in terms of quality and standards, and that our collection services enable us to treat waste in a way that is least damaging to the environment.

Our last waste management strategy was in place between 2013 - 2016, but uncertainty over the national and regional position on waste services since 2016 paused any further development of our strategy. In December 2018 the UK Government released a new national waste strategy which has allowed us to better understand the direction we need to take our services in the future. As a result, since 2019 we have been working towards developing a new waste strategy for the New Forest.

Our current service

Black sack waste (weekly collection)

40% food waste (15,000 tonnes per year)
19% could have been recycled
Four million single use plastic sacks provided per year

Clear sack recycling (weekly collection)

70% paper and card
14% contamination (other materials we don't collect)
Six million single use plastic sacks provided per year

Our performance

Our service costs £53 per household each year
34% of our waste is recycled compared to the national average of 44%. The best performing council recycles 64% of their waste.

Why change is needed

Legislation

New laws are likely to mean that we must provide a separate food waste collection service for residents within the next few years. We must change the way that we collect recyclable materials. For example, paper and card should be kept separate from other materials such as food containers and glass, to protect its quality. This will ensure that more paper and card can be recycled.

Environmental improvement

As described in our corporate plan we need to increase our recycling rate to enable us to meet increasing national targets. To help us reduce our environmental impact and carbon footprint, we will look at all elements of our service including the use of single use plastic waste sacks, our vehicle emissions and other waste minimisation strategies.

People

We know our residents want a better service that will help them to protect the environment and recycle more materials, such as a wider variety of plastics and cartons.

What we aim to achieve

Our aim is to provide the New Forest with a cost effective and carbon efficient waste and recycling service, that will maximise the recovery of valuable natural resources, and also meet the needs and expectations of our residents. We will ensure our service is compliant with forthcoming national legislation and compatible with any new working arrangements with our Hampshire partners.

Our objectives

Objective 1: Minimise carbon impact of waste/recycling service
Objective 2: Comply with legislation
Objective 3: Reduce overall levels of household waste
Objective 4: Increase quantity and quality of recycling

How we will achieve our objectives

The work that has been carried out by members and officers during 2019/20 has considered forthcoming legislation, customer feedback, service modelling and current best practice.

Our current focus is to continue to work on the development of a new waste and recycling collection system.

We have now identified changes we could make to our collection system that will help us meet our objectives. The work carried out so far has led us to the waste and recycling collection option shown in the diagram opposite as the preferred option available to us.

However, it is important to understand that no final decisions have been reached. The preferred option that is being presented will be subject to further consideration. It is our intention to find a core service that will be suitable for most households, however we recognise it is unlikely we will be able to introduce a 'one size fits all' service.

If the preferred option is taken forward, extensive surveying would be carried out to establish which properties would not be suitable, and to look at how we would provide an alternative service to these households.

What the new service could look like

Food waste caddy collected weekly.

Paper and card reusable bag collected on alternate weeks.

Mixed recyclables in a wheeled bin collected on alternate weeks.

Garden waste in a reusable bag or wheeled bin collected fortnightly. This will be a paid for service.

General waste in a wheeled bin collected on alternate weeks.

How the new waste collection system could meet our objectives

The measures taken by introducing the preferred option would help us achieve the following:

Food waste - food waste caddy, weekly collection

eliminate up to 40% of food waste currently disposed of in the general waste
increase recycling rates
meet legislative requirements

Dry recyclable materials - a 'twin stream' collection system using a wheeled bin and reusable bag, alternate weekly collection

increase material quantity and quality
increase frequency of glass collections
eliminate single use plastic waste sacks
reduce vehicle emissions
meet legislative requirements

General/non-recyclable waste - wheeled bin, alternate weekly collection

minimise the waste each household disposes of by encouraging participation in weekly food waste collection service
reduce vehicle emissions

Garden Waste - pay-for service, option of a reusable bag or wheeled bin, fortnightly collection

increase capacity
increase potential for recycling

What else can we do?

Reduce bulky waste

help minimise the amount of waste sent to landfill by supporting reuse charities and organisations
support Hampshire County Councils Smart Living initiatives

Help residents understand the environmental benefits of reducing their waste

develop a communications and education plan to provide residents with the information they need to use our services correctly and make positive choices to minimise their own carbon footprint

Removal of recycling bring bank sites

aim to provide a more comprehensive kerbside collection service that will reduce the need for bring sites (more frequent glass collections and collection of more materials for recycling)
reduce issues such as misuse by businesses and traders, fly tipping and contamination of recycling

Explore route planning software and the introduction of in-cab technology system

help to improve the carbon efficiency of our collection rounds
improve customer service Review of the business waste collection service
ensure the best possible service is offered to our business waste customers

Refresh planning guidance with regards to waste and recycling

help to ensure that new housing developments are designed to make it easier for residents to recycle and store their waste

Develop performance dashboard monitoring

to enable us to better monitor, evaluate and measure the success of this strategy

Devise a new waste collection policy

to provide clarity for the council and residents of the standards they can expect of the new waste and recycling service