Agenda item

At its meeting on 7 April 2015 the Executive had adopted the Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy Revision 2 (2015) which had been produced by the Surrey Waste Partnership.

The Executive noted the targets which had been selected to measure success of the Strategy. In order to meet these ambitious targets each authority had been asked to produce a Waste Action Plan, which would be regularly monitored by the Surrey Waste Partnership.

It was reported that, at 58%, Surrey Heath remained the best performing authority in Surrey for the proportion of waste recovered, recycled and composted. However, as with most authorities, the recycling rate had started to fall and major interventions would be needed in order to raise recycling rates. A number of factors were considered to have contributed to a fall in rates, including the Environment Agency’s ban on the composting of Highway Leaves, a lack of knowledge of what could be recycled, a fall in recycling values, and an increase in bin contamination.

The Executive was advised that the Surrey Heath Waste Action Plan 2015/16 would largely be funded from recycling performance awards the Council had received for 2012/13 and 2013/14 which had totalled £83,266. This sum formed part of a carry forward agreed in July 2015.

RESOLVED that the Surrey Heath Waste Action Plan 2015 to 2020, as attached at Annex A to the agenda report, be approved.