Public consultation - your waste, your views

The Surrey Waste Partnership is made up of the county's eleven borough and district councils and Surrey County Council.  We aim to manage Surrey's waste in the most efficient, economic and sustainable way possible.

In 2006 all of Surrey's councils endorsed a waste strategy for Surrey.  This set out the Surrey Waste Partnership's vision for managing Surrey's waste through to 2025.  It incorporated significant targets for waste minimisation and recycling, whilst recognising that reducing waste is even more important than recycling it.

Now we are reviewing Surrey's waste strategy and want you to help shape it.  Take part in our public consultation between 17 May and 12 August 2010 and tell us your views.  How can we help you to reduce your waste?  What would help you to recycle more?  How should we deal with Surrey's remaining waste?

Love food.  Hate waste.

Do you love food but hate waste?  Find out more.

Why worry about waste?

Epsom & Ewell alone produces almost 30,000 tonnes of household waste each year.  That's almost four times the weight of the Eiffel Tower.

Rubbish that we do not recycle must typically be disposed of in landfill sites.  Rotting food and garden waste in landfill sites generate powerful greenhouse gases which contribute to climate change.  If we do not continue to recycle more the environment will suffer.

The government charges councils for each tonne of rubbish which is put into landfill.  This Landfill Tax is doubling over the course of three years.  In addition to Landfill Tax, councils face extra fines if they send too much food and garden waste to landfill.  If we do not continue to recycle more our residents will pay heavily through increased Council Tax.

How well are we doing with recycling?

Thanks to your efforts, recycling has risen significantly in Epsom & Ewell.  Before we launched kerbside recycling in 2003 almost 95% of waste went to landfill.  Now you recycle almost 50% of your household waste.

In the last year you recycled over 2,100 tonnes of food waste and 1,600 tonnes of plastic bottles and cardboard through the Council's new kerbside services.  In total you recycled over 12,200 tonnes through the Council's services, and more went to the Community Recycling Centre in Blenheim Road.

Can I do more to help?

Careful attention to the three 'R's - Reduce, Re-use and Recycle - can save energy and reduce harmful effects on the environment.

Reduce:  We only throw away what we buy in the first place.  Often it is just packaging we neither want nor need.  Carefully considering what we buy can help reduce waste. Re-use:  Energy is used in the manufacture of a replacement item, even if it is recycled.  By re-using we can postpone their replacement - perhaps indefinitely.  Sites such as Freecycle could make it easy for you to find another home for your unwanted items.  Recycle:  If you cannot reduce or re-use, recycling is easy to do and much better than simply throwing something away.

Is it worth recycling?

The benefits of reducing landfill and methane emissions are clear.

Recycling can also have a significant impact on carbon emissions, even allowing for the fact that we must employ vehicles to collect the materials in the first place.  For example, it has been calculated that the energy saved by recycling cans, compared to manufacturing from raw materials, reduces their carbon footprint by nearly three quarters. 

Recycling will also reduce our reliance on natural resources.

What about carrier bags and packaging?

Carrier bag use across the UK has been almost halved.  A re-usable shopping bag is by far the best option for the environment.

The amount of packaging which councils have to deal with is gradually reducing.  Manufacturers are working on new ways to reduce packaging, or make it recyclable or compostable.  The success of these strategies relies on consumer choices.  The key is to buy products with less, or recyclable, packaging whenever available.