Survey finds high level of satisfaction with Shropshire’s waste and recycling services

More than 90% of residents in the Shropshire Council area are satisfied with their waste collection service, and 88% are satisfied with their kerbside recycling collection service, a new survey shows.

The waste satisfaction survey was carried out in March and April this year by Veolia, who provide waste and recycling services on behalf of Shropshire Council. A demographically representative sample of 5000 households were invited to complete the survey, and say what they think of the refuse and recycling services they receive.

Of the 5000 surveys distributed, 1333 responses were received – a response rate of 26.6%.

In relation to kerbside recycling service, the survey found that the levels of satisfaction were as follows:

• Collection of waste – 92%
• Collection of recycling – 88%
• Information about recycling – 91%
• Staff helpfulness – 78%

In addition, the levels of satisfaction with the county’s household recycling centres was:

• Location – 88%
• Staff helpfulness – 90%
• Cleanliness of site – 92%
• Opening hours – 90%

Other findings include:

• 47% of respondents use bring banks
• 46% would like a wheelie bin for recycling
• 92% use their collection calendar
• 29% would like a larger range of products collected at the kerbside.

Joyce Barrow, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member responsible for waste management, said:

“I’m really pleased to see such high levels of satisfaction with our waste and recycling services. Shropshire Council and Veolia have worked hard in the past few years to improve our waste services and facilities and it’s great that these efforts are being recognised. Despite this we won’t get complacent and will continue to work hard to maintain and improve the quality of our services, and ensure that satisfaction levels remain high.”

Steve Mitchell, Veolia Director, West Midlands, said:

“We’re pleased that the hard work of Veolia’s team here in Shropshire has been recognised in this survey. We’ll continue to look at ways in which our service can be improved and build further on these excellent results.”

The survey is carried out every four years and, to help understand how views and behaviours to refuse and recycling have changed, the same 5000 households were surveyed four years ago.

For more information about waste and recycling services in the Shropshire Council area, go to www.recycleforshropshire.org.

Further information

Aside from the official responses, the online version of the survey was completed by a further 6599 people after the link was shared via social media and other channels. As they are from outside of the demographic sample of 5000 households these responses have deliberately not been included in the above summary. However, these findings and comments made have been read and noted and will be further considered when any service developments are planned in future.

A summary of the 2018 Shropshire waste satisfaction survey findings