The Joint Municipal Waste Strategy sets out a plan for tackling waste that all of the councils have signed up to follow. The strategy was drawn up by a forum consisting of councillors from across the councils concerned: Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Bromsgrove, Worcester, Malvern Hills, Redditch, Wychavon and Wyre Forest.
Worcestershire councillor John Smith, chairman of the forum, said, “Waste is growing at an alarming rate. The annual coast of dealing with the problem is 22 million and rising. We have to make tough decisions to tackle the problem. A key element is to reduce the amount of waste that is produced by recycling and composting more.”
Web campaign
One of the schemes designed to do this is the Mission (Im)possible Campaign, which aims to inform the public of simple ways they can cut down on waste without completely altering their lives.
The campaign revolves around the website, www.wastemissionimpossible.org.uk which offers advice on how to decrease household waste and features cut price items to help, such as compost bins and food waste digesters.
Goal
There are plans to increase household recycling collection over the next few years with most of the districts involved aiming for about an 8% increase by 2006.
The ultimate goal of the joint strategy is to ensure that by 2015 33% of waste will be recycled or composted, with less than 22% being sent to landfill. At present only 15% is recycled with the majority of waste sent to landfill.
The majority of the work being done will be overseen by Severn Waste Service which signed a 25 year contract in 1998 to provide facilities such as household waste sites and a range of treatment disposal methods including central composting.
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