Chance to comment on new waste prevention strategy

Shropshire Council is inviting people to read and comment on its new draft waste prevention strategy 2024-2030.

The aim of the strategy is ’to reduce the weight of household waste on a per household basis by 20%, to assist delivery of a healthy environment, and economic and societal benefits.’’

The strategy looks at ways in which the council can reduce the amount of household waste produced in the county, and support residents to help them play their part too.

A six-week consultation began today (27 September) and runs until 1 November 2024.

Ian Nellins, Shropshire Council’s deputy Leader and Cabinet member with responsibility for waste management, said:

“We really want to hear people’s views on this new draft strategy. All views will be considered as part of the final strategy before it is adopted by the council.

“Shropshire’s residents can justifiably be proud of their continued efforts to recycle their household waste and Shropshire’s combined recycling and composting performance has consistently been above 50% since 2015/16. Shropshire’s recycling and composting performance compares well nationally, but this success tells only part of the story as Shropshire’s households generate more waste per household than households in most other local authority areas.

“Prevention, reduction and minimising waste is at the top of the waste hierarchy in terms of being the most responsible approach for the environment, to safeguard our precious resources and help tackle climate change. Taking steps to reduce waste is the right approach economically and will mean more of council taxpayer’s money can be used towards providing essential services.”

A motion to create a new waste prevention strategy was unanimously supported at a meeting of Shropshire’s full Council in December 2023.

Further information

• This waste prevention strategy replaces Shropshire Council’s waste prevention plan 2010 to 2015. It was developed in the first half of 2024 during a time in which the waste management service in Shropshire is undergoing significant change in response to the council’s challenging financial position.
• National waste policy is also changing at scale, reflecting new legislation introduced under the Environment Act 2021. Changes to the waste policy landscape are expected during the term of this strategy and reforms include simpler recycling, the introduction of separate weekly food waste collections, a deposit return scheme and extended producer responsibility. These reforms will serve to reduce the quantity of Shropshire’s household waste.
• Data up to 2023 was used to inform this strategy, often sourced from Defra’s Waste Dataflow portal. The strategy draws on data from 2013 onwards as this was the mid-point of the last waste prevention plan and provides a decade’s worth of data for comparison purposes. Extensive use has been made of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) near neighbour benchmarking group for Shropshire to enable comparison with local authorities with similar demographics.