Council poised to back waste reduction plan

Measures to curb waste, encourage recycling and improve energy efficiency are set to receive the backing of Wyre Forest District Council’s cabinet next week.

Members are expected to approve the updated Herefordshire and Worcestershire Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy (JMWMS) when they meet on Tuesday 14 November.

The strategy – drawn up by the two county councils and six district, borough and city councils in 2004 – has been refreshed to reflect new Government guidelines.

Since it was adopted more than a decade ago the amount of waste sent to landfill in Worcestershire has dropped by more than 70%, mainly due to the opening of a new energy from waste plant, EnviRecover.

At the same time the amount of waste recycled during the period has increased by more than 60%.  In 2014/15 31.9% of waste from Wyre Forest homes was recycled, while the recycling rate across the partnership was 40%.

The amount of waste produced per home has reduced over the previous six years (from an average 1.23 tonne per household in 2009 to 1.13 tonne per household in 2015/16 although there has been a rise overall, due to the number of new homes built over the period.

Cabinet Member for Operational Services at Wyre Forest District Council Councillor Rebecca Vale said: "The figures speak for themselves and the joint waste strategy has successfully enabled us to work across the two counties to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill.

“The new plant at Hartlebury means we are now generating power from materials that cannot be re-used or recycle. The updated strategy will allow us to continue to minimise the amount of waste being generated despite a substantial increase in new homes that we expect over the next decade or so.

"Our message to residents is please where possible try to reduce waste, re-use, recycle and compost more.

“As a council we are doing everything we can to minimise the amount of waste we produce and reduce our carbon footprint, for example by ensuring collection rounds are as fuel-efficient as possible.

“In future we will also be asking suppliers and contractors to include information about their carbon footprint when tendering for our business.”

EnviRecover opened in Hartlebury in March this year and treats up to 200,000 tonnes of waste, exporting 15.5 MW of electricity to the grid. The facility complements Worcestershire County Council and Herefordshire Council's other waste and recycling facility EnviroSort at Norton.

Read the full cabinet report and view the updated Herefordshire and Worcestershire Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy (JMWMS) here.