Nottingham goes it alone on waste statistics

National averages for waste arisings and disposal are out-of-date and new ones are needed. That’s the message this week from Nottingham City Council which is to ignore national figures and spend 28,000 on carrying out its own research into household waste before finalising its integrated waste management plan for the city. The Hanson Environment Fund has agreed a 28,000 grant for the study which will be carried out by MEL Research. It will allow the collection and analysis of the city’s waste for about a year. This will give an insight into household practices and how the streams vary over the year. Justifying the research, Councillor Brian Grocock said: “We all want to reduce waste in our throwaway society and most of us already do our best to recycle. The queues at compost bin sales demonstrate how seriously many people are taking their responsibilities to the future of the environment. “We must find ways of stopping recoverable rubbish literally from going to waste in landfills ties that are already fast filling up. Before we can make decisions, we need the facts – not basing our calculations on out-of-date national averages.” The 28,000 grant includes contributions from Nottingham City Council and Nottingham Green Partnership. Under government regulations only 90% of a grant can be provided form landfill tax, the remaining 10% must come from another source.”