Issue - meetings

To receive an update from Street Services including the waste education action plan.

The Cabinet Member for Environmental Services presented the report to the Committee.

Members noted that the recycling rate had fallen and residual waste had increased in the past two years. In part, this was attributed to housing growth in the district. An action plan for waste education and awareness was being implemented to discourage littering, increase participation in the Council’s recycling services and to help reduce contamination levels. Directing education at school age children was seen as an effective strategy in changing attitudes towards waste disposal and culture, although there was a consensus that a wide-ranging campaign would also be helpful.

To increase recycling rates and minimise residual waste, Members suggested engaging with the public by using the following methods:

·         Engaging with the retail sector to encourage more sustainable commercial waste practices and the reduction of littering e.g. providing fewer disposable cups or using recyclable plastic packaging. Businesses who had signed up to the Saffron Walden BID were cited as potential partners. 

·         Clarifying the Household Waste list to minimise the potential of fly tipping. 

·         To canvass the opinion of the Youth Council with regards to educational schemes directed at children and schools.

·         To include information relating to recycling on the Housing trailer that visited developments across the district. 

·         To include information relating to recycling in the Tenants’ Newsletter.

·         To increase the presence of littering and recycling campaigns such as the ‘Campaign for a Cleaner Essex’.