Guildford Is A Major Contributor to Surrey’s Recycling Success

Published on: 11 Dec, 2017
Updated on: 12 Dec, 2017

Guildford Borough was a main contributor to Surrey’s performance as a leading recycling county. Newly published figures show that Surrey was joint top of a recycling league table in 2016-17.

The data from Defra shows that both Surrey and Oxfordshire recycled 57.7% of household waste, the highest recycling rate of the 32 two-tier authorities in England.

Surrey has also seen a reduction in the amount of waste generated. The drop from 451.6kg to 439kg per person means the county has entered the top quartile of authorities for this measure, well ahead of a target to achieve this by 2020.

The target is part of the Surrey Waste Partnership’s (SWP) joint strategy for reducing waste and increasing recycling in the county. The partnership consists of the 11 district and borough councils that collect waste and recycling and Surrey County Council which is responsible for disposing of it.

SWP chairman Cllr Beryl Hunwicks said: “We are delighted by this news which is a clear indication that working in partnership is the most sensible, pragmatic and effective solution.

“Our 12 Surrey councils have been working together more and more closely over the past few years, finding ways to make it as easy as possible for residents to recycle more and help save money and the environment.”

Partnership initiatives include aligning policies and collection systems, introducing food waste recycling countywide and developing joint communications to make sure residents are fully aware of what they can and can’t recycle. That includes a Recycle for Surrey online search tool and downloadable app.

Food waste recycling was a particular success story in Surrey increasing by 9%. The campaign that helped achieve this included attaching ‘No food waste stickers’ to thousands of rubbish bins across the county to remind residents to use their recycling caddies.

“With the release of the household recycling rates league table for 2016/17 by Defra, we are delighted that Surrey was joint top.

A spokesperson for Guildford Borough Council said: “Guildford sits in second position in the league table of Surrey authorities who contributed to this result. We are delighted to have achieved a household waste recycling rate of 59.7%.”

A previously declared recyling target of 70% has proved impossible to achieve but the near 60% figure obviously compares well with other local authorities and the council remains upbeat.

“We have worked hard to provide a level of service that has contributed to this record level of recycling across the borough and we would like to thank our residents for helping to achieve this.

“As we approach Christmas and the New Year it’s a great opportunity to remind our residents to keep recycling during the festive period. Information about revised collection days and what can be recycled can be found at: https://www.guildford.gov.uk/article/16736/Household-recycling-and-waste

“With a continued focus on the recycling of household waste in the year ahead, we are aiming to improve on the fantastic results achieved this year.”

Responses to Guildford Is A Major Contributor to Surrey’s Recycling Success

Moira MacQuaide Hall Reply

December 12, 2017 at 4:24 pm

If we’re doing so well then it seems a shame that Slyfield recycling centre is going to be closed two days a week.
Mike Murphy Reply

December 12, 2017 at 6:22 pm

What they don’t mention is the increase in fly-tipping.

As SCC makes it more and more difficult to dump certain waste so up goes the level of fly-tipping and, of course, there is no mention of the cost of this.
- John Lomas Reply
  
  December 14, 2017 at 4:58 pm
  
  Of course they don’t, after all, unless it has been fly-tipped on SCC land, they don’t have to finance its removal.
  
  The costs of dealing with fly-tipping fall on the landowner.
John Perkins Reply

December 27, 2017 at 4:55 pm

The Woodland Trust has announced that it spent almost £200,000 clearing up after fly-tipping in 2017, an increase of more than 20% on 2016, previously the worst year on record. I wonder what the total figure for all landowners might be. It’s probably safe to wager that the cost to landowners is at least as much as the savings made by the authorities paid for the service of waste disposal.

The boast that “Surrey has also seen a reduction in the amount of waste generated” seems a little dubious. Is there any evidence that the population is really producing less rubbish? More likely to be accurate is that SCC has seen a reduction in the amount of waste handed to it. This would be an expected consequence of additional charges.

The drop from 451.6kg to 439kg per person is quite large in absolute terms, being nearly 15,000 tonnes for the whole of Surrey. According to DEFRA about two-thirds of fly-tipping is household waste. Does anyone have figures for the tonnage of fly-tipping in Surrey so that it might be compared with the reduction in waste experienced by SCC?