Lib Dem led council improves waste minimisation
September 12, 2008 12:00 AM
The Liberal Democrats in York are proposing ways to improve minimising waste in York with ambitious targets and new actions.
The new waste minimisation strategy for 2008-11 will build on the success of the previous years' work - which has resulted in a reduction of almost 5 per cent of the waste that each York resident puts out for landfill or recycling - and will also address new challenges.
The aim of the strategy is to reduce the growth of household waste in York through waste minimisation and prevention. It targets specific ways to manage waste including waste prevention, waste reduction, reuse and home composting.
Over the last 3 years, waste in York has increased by 0.25 per cent each year, but over the next 5 years a 7% increase in households and a 4.7% increase in population is forecast. This will impact on future waste patterns and to minimise growth in waste the Liberal Democrats in York are setting a challenging target of limiting growth to 1% per year. This means that the only growth in waste will be that from new homes built each year, and this equates to zero waste growth in existing households each year.
The four aims of the waste minimisation strategy are:
§ To engage residents and businesses in bringing about a change of culture with greater awareness about what waste minimisation is and how it can be achieved
§ To motivate people to take action and provide incentives to reduce waste
§ To increase waste minimisation in the Council's own office buildings
§ To work with voluntary and community groups to promote waste minimisation
This will be achieved through actions such as
§ Promoting home composting through working with York Rotters
§ Encouraging parents to buy real nappies which can be reused
§ Forming partnerships with local groups in the villages of York, to help them make their village plastic bag free and providing cotton reusable bags to residents in the village
§ Working with schools to help them minimise their waste and raise awareness amongst pupils
§ Providing residents with hints and tips to help them reduce their rubbish
§ Encouraging businesses to reduce their waste by providing information
§ Encouraging residents to reuse things by working with charity shops, York Freecycle, Community Furniture Store and Bike Rescue
§ Reducing waste at Christmas time
§ Increasing awareness about reducing packaging
Cllr Ann Reid, Executive Member for Neighbourhood Services, said; "71 per cent of York respondents agree that reducing waste is better for the environment than recycling. It is important that we implement an ambitious action plan to reduce as much household waste as possible, to avoid more waste going to landfill or being recycled."
"The Love Food Hate Waste campaign shows that up to £500 per year can be saved by taking small steps to reducing food waste, and we will continue to promote this campaign to help residents save money and help the environment. It is one area where the choices that residents make can have a real impact on the amount of waste they produce. Unavoidable food waste such as vegetable peelings can be reduced easily through home composting. The council offers Home Compost Bins at a reduced price which allow people to do that little bit extra to reduce what goes into their bin each week."
"I hope that by building on our waste minimisation strategy we can encourage residents to minimise the environmental impact of their activities."
The council first adopted a waste minimisation strategy in 2005, and the current strategy supports activities until 2009/10, but a further £50, 000 of funding is needed to continue and build on this work, until 2011. This strategy will be discussed by the Executive at its next meeting on 23rd September.
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