1
Results of WIN survey December 2008: Experiences of local
authorities with (1) lowest waste arisings/head; and
(2) largest decrease in waste arisings/head on previous year
(according to Defra stats for 2007/8)
Introduction
Key messages
WIN conducted an informal survey in December 2008,
asking councils to share what they had done to
achieve low waste arisings or large decreases in waste
arisings on the previous year.

Restricting residual waste is key. Responses
suggest there is a genuine minimisation effect
associated with introducing Alternate Bin
Collections (ABCs) or other restrictions on residual
waste. This minimisation effect was clearly seen in
Barnsley – a unitary authority where Civic Amenity
waste is of course included in figures.

Out of date trade-to-household ratios for
mixed loads may be artificially inflating
household waste arisings figures. Some
councils which had recently re-estimated the ratio
after validating their figures (in a variety of ways)
found that their household waste arisings figures
dropped as the assumed % for trade waste was out
of date and too low.

Many councils with low arisings reported
strong enforcement and persistent
communications campaigns. In particular,
councils with ABCs often had strict no side waste or
closed lid policies which they enforced alongside
strong communications campaigns.

Occasionally localised factors such as a drop
in tourism were the key factor.
This is not scientific research but we feel it makes
fascinating reading. In particular, we were delighted to
discover that is appears there really are things councils
can do to have a major impact on arisings.
In retrospect we might have contacted more disposal
and unitary authorities: perhaps we will do this in the
future. The response from unitary council Barnsley, for
example, was important in that it told us that the
minimisation effect of introducing Alternate Bin
Collections holds even for unitary councils.
We hope you find this interesting. Please let us have
any feedback and also let us know of any other
research which you would find useful.
Finally, we would like to thank the many councils who
were able to respond in such a short time.
Anna Jones, Project Coordinator
Alice Roberts, Head of National Projects
www.win.org.uk
win@southeastiep.gov.uk
2
WIN contacted the following councils
See Table 1 and Table 2 below for responses.
20 councils with lowest waste
arisings per head in 2007/8
Collected
HH
waste/
head, kg
See Table 1 for responses
Hyndburn Borough Council
Purbeck District Council
Weymouth and Portland BC
Mid Suffolk District Council
Oxford City Council
Camden LB
Malvern Hills District Council
South Somerset District Council
East Devon District Council
Oadby and Wigston Borough Council
Worcester City Council
Exeter City Council
Crawley Borough Council
Taunton Deane Borough Council
Charnwood Borough Council
Havant Borough Council
Stroud District Council
Tendring District Council
Waverley Borough Council
Adur District Council
www.win.org.uk
10 councils with largest
decrease on previous year
2007/8
See Table 2 for responses
293
298
298
306
313
318
319
321
322
323
326
327
327
328
332
332
333
333
336
336
North Cornwall District Council
South Lakeland District Council
Berwick-upon-Tweed BC
Barnsley MBC (unitary)
West Devon Borough Council
Cumbria CC (disposal)
Rother District Council
Redcar & Cleveland BC (unitary)
Swale Borough Council
Blackburn with Darwen (unitary)
Collecte
d HH
waste
/head,
kg
%
change
on
previous
year
424.91
453.34
419.08
439.50
361.86
529.00
368.15
440.84
420.40
436.18
-13.64%
-12.08%
-11.27%
-11.10%
-10.98%
-10.91%
-10.77%
-9.29%
-9.24%
-8.88%
win@southeastiep.gov.uk
3
TABLE 1
20 councils with lowest waste arisings per head in 2007/8
Local
authority
(+ contact)
1. Your council has a relatively low KG of household
waste per person according to Defra statistics. Please
could you tell us what factors you think are affecting this
rate locally? Has your councils actively tried to reduce the
kg of waste per head?
2. How has the rate
changed over the past
five years? Has it gone
up, down or
fluctuated?
Hyndburn
Borough
Council
293 kg
Steve.Riley@hyn
dburnbc.gov.uk
Hyndburn have the lowest collected household waste / person in the country.
A number of factors have influenced this, notably the introduction of
Alternate Bin Collections. For full details, please see the new WIN case
study:http://www.win.org.uk/userfiles/File/Hyndburn_waste_arisings_casestudy_Ja
n09_FINAL.pdf
YEAR
Purbeck
District Council
298 kg
NeilRandall@pur
beck-dc.gov.uk
“The principal reason for our low arisings is the introduction of alternate week
collections in Autumn 2005, this is in combination with a strict ‘no side waste
or overflowing bin’ policy and kerbside sort collection of dry recyclables to
100% of households. The council has tried to reduce the kg of waste / head
via waste policies and waste minimisation education programmes.
Weymouth &
Portland
Borough
Council
298 kg
DavidBowyer@w
eymouth.gov.uk
The kg per head figure has been low historically for the Borough, however, it
has reduced still further since we introduced an alternate weekly residual
waste collection using 180lt wheeled bins and a strict no side waste policy in
2005. This service is complemented by a weekly organic kitchen
waste/corrugated cardboard collection for composting and a fortnightly dry
recyclables collection. We have also worked with Dorset County Council’s
Waste Reduction Officer in a countywide reduction programme.
Mid Suffolk
District Council
306 kg
paul.lewis@mids
uffolk.gov.uk
We have limited the size of wheeled bins provided to householders. Standard
bin capacity is 140 litre for refuse and 180 litre for recycling for household of
up to 3 occupants. The capacity increases as number occupants in the
household increase. We also do not collect side waste unless it is contained in
an authorised pre-paid sack. The Council decided against implementing an
alternate weekly collection of garden waste as in other council areas in
HH waste/
head, kg
www.win.org.uk
2003/04
2004/05
2005/06
2006/07
2007/08
YEAR
2004/05
2005/06
2006/07
2007/08
YEAR
2003/04
2004/05
2005/06
2006/07
2007/08
WEIGHT
(Kg)
346
339
323
302
293
WEIGHT
(Kg)
336
305
304
298
WEIGHT
(Kg)
319
321
311
310
298
The rate has decreased steadily
since we implemented
alternate weekly collection of
household waste in March
2003.
win@southeastiep.gov.uk
4
Oxford City
Council
Camden
Council
Ann.Baker@Cam
den.gov.uk
318 kg
Malvern Hills
District Council
South
Somerset
District Council
321 kg
Steve.Read@so
mersetwaste.gov
.uk
East Devon
District Council
Oadby &
Wigston BC
Worcester City
Council
326 kg
www.win.org.uk
Suffolk, as this increases total waste arisings and we believe is not a
sustainable practice. The Council considers that collection of garden waste
(free) artificially inflates recycling statistics. MSDC is the highest performing
authority in the country for dry recycling, second year in succession.
313 kg
This indicator is in our Local Area Agreement and is supported corporately as
a key priority. Locally the demographics of the borough and the refuse
collection practices in place influence the way waste is reported to Defra. The
council has tried to reduce the kg of waste / head – we have good
communication resources in place to promote waste reduction, reuse and
recycling. We are engaged with our waste disposal authority and the
activities they have planned.
YEAR
2003/04
2004/05
2005/06
2006/07
2007/08
WEIGHT
(Kg)
460.6
396.7
348.1
335.0
317.8
319 kg
South Somerset and Taunton Deane are in Somerset which had a figure of
519 kg/pp/pa in 2007/8.
Services are managed by the Somerset Waste Partnership. Low arisings are
achieved through a combination of ABC with food waste collected with other
recyclate on a weekly basis from the kerbside and a default sized bin of 180
litres for residual collected fortnightly. A no side waste rule is enforced.
“Neighbouring authority Mendip also have this but have a default 240 litre bin
and a higher waste arisings figure – so we feel this demonstrates quite
clearly that restricting capacity is key. There is an extensive HRWC network
in Somerset – with a high ratio of sites to people. The arising figure for
Somerset County is 519 kg per person per year (2007/8) and we are
determined to get this figure down. We are just rolling out automatic number
plate recognition to discourage trade waste use, as well as some other
measures. “CAPACITY RESTRICTION is absolutely key - !!!!”
322 kg
323 kg
We think we have a relatively low kg household waste per head because our
recycling scheme is easy to use. We have an alternate weekly co-mingled
wheeled bin collection using two bins – 240 litre recycling bin and grey 190
Waste has declined steadily
over the past five years. Apart
from the methods described
win@southeastiep.gov.uk
5
John Bond
jbond@worcester
.gov.uk
Exeter City
Council
327 kg
penelope.lane@e
xeter.gov.uk
Crawley
Borough
Council
327 kg
Susan.Lawrance
@crawley.gov.uk
www.win.org.uk
litre residual bin. Once they get used to it the public only have to put all their
recyclables unmixed into the one bin (no sorting is required). By issuing a
smaller residual waste bin, this forces the householder to sort their waste
carefully. We rigorously enforce a flat lid policy, so there is no excess waste
or side waste allowed: it will not be collected, and the public know this. The
scheme covers 95% of properties and we are active in including the residue.
We also run an effective promotional programme. Once a month or more
there is at least one recycling news item appearing in the local papers, or
piece of literature distributed. We use various formats for different
communities: e.g. illustrated materials for ethnic groups. We run face-to-face
recycling road-shows, we employ doorknockers, giving individual help, and
we have been promoting recycling though our local schools for the last 15
years. We also take part in WRAP initiatives: Worcestershire County Council
has acted on behalf of the Districts to promote compost bins. We are
currently taking part in the Love Food Hate Waste campaign. Some of the
other local initiatives, which help a little, include running a garden shredder
service, where the public can book a machine and operator to reduce their
green waste bulk, and sink waste digesters.
About 70% of the city is on fortnightly refuse collections – with a restriction
on the amount that is collected (240 litres unless the household has special
circumstances). For the houses on weekly collections – where there is no
room for wheelie bins – the number of bags is limited to 3 per property.
There is a ban on side waste that is strictly enforced by the collection crew.
Recycling is collected fortnightly in 240 litre wheeled bins – the comingled mix includes all types of plastic bottles/food containers/wraps/bags
plus paper and card, steel and aluminium cans/aerosols/foil. Our dry
recycling rate is over 28% and we feel this has a direct effect on the
amount of residual waste we collect. The council has tried to reduce the kg of
waste / head only by enforcing the ban on side waste.
I think a lot of this is down to the fact that we don't provide wheeled bins or
sacks for domestic refuse. From experience, whatever size wheeled bin
you provide, residents will fill them up and dispose of items within them that
perhaps they would have otherwise taken to the household waste recycling
site or not disposed of at all. Also, we provide an opt-in chargeable green
waste collection service for 9 months of the year. This ensures that residents
who do not have a garden, who home compost, or do not wish to use this
service do not pay for it through their Council Tax. This, although means our
composting rate is kept lower than some other local authorities who provide a
above, we actively tell the
public of the fines which will be
incurred by the Council tax
payer in the future if we landfill
too much waste (landfill tax).
We also promote the link
between land-filled waste and
climate change. This message
seems to have resonated
locally.
Not available to hand at
present
win@southeastiep.gov.uk
6
Taunton Dean
Borough
Council
328 kg
Charnwood
Borough
Council
332 kg
Kath.Kay@charn
wood.gov.uk
Havant
Borough
Council
332 kg
gail.grant@hava
nt.gov.uk
www.win.org.uk
free regular collection service, keeps the overall amount of waste collected to
a minimum. By providing a free garden waste collection service when there
is no statutory duty to do so means you are increasing the amount of overall
waste you collect. However, this in turn means your composting rate will not
be as high as those who provide a free service. It just so happens that in
Crawley the majority of housing is terraced with small gardens and a vast
proportion use compost bins and so there is not that much garden waste
actually requiring collection.
The council has tried to reduce the kg of waste / head – we work in
partnership with West Sussex County Council to actively try to reduce the
amount of waste generated through subsidised home compost bins, food
waste digesters, real nappies and promotion of the Love Food, Hate Waste
Campaign. A Not for profit Community Interest Party called Better
Tomorrows has recently been set up within West Sussex with an overall
target of diverting 80,000 tonnes per annum by 2015.
South Somerset and Taunton Deane are in Somerset which had a figure of
519 kg/pp/pa in 2007/8.
SEE RESPONSE FOR SOUTH SOMERSET ABOVE
Steve.Read@somersetwaste.gov.uk
We believe our strong communications and education work, combined with
Alternate Weekly Collections and a very comprehensive recycling service
have affected our waste arisings rate.
The council has tried to reduce the kg of waste / head through waste
minimisation initiatives and promotion as part of the Zero Waste Strategy,
along with the recycling and composting work that we promote.
We plan to continue the downward trend in waste arisings into the future,
through the on-going implementation of the Zero Waste Strategy.
Since the Council introduced Alternate Weekly Collections (AWC), this has
helped dramatically to reduce the Council’s waste arising as AWC enforces
the message of Waste Minimisation and encourages residents to recycle.
To assist in the effective management of the AWC the Council introduced a
very strong Policy with easy rules for all residents to understand and this has
helped to enforce the Councils political message for the Waste Minimisation
programme. One of the main rules regarding the collection of domestic waste
is that the Council will only collect and empty the domestic wheeled bin, no
domestic side waste is allowed. This is enforced with daily monitoring /
supervision to ensure this rule is adhered too. Should a second domestic
Following the introduction of
wheelie bins in 2004, there was
an increase in the total waste
arisings, most likely due to the
types of waste that can be
disposed of in a wheelie bin
rather than black sacks. Since
then, we’ve seen a year on
year decrease.
WEIGHT
YEAR
(Kg)
2003/04
2004/05
381kg
2005/06
359kg
2006/07
333kg
2007/08
332.5kg
2005/6 First phase of AWC
2006/07 Second, third and
finale phase of AWC
win@southeastiep.gov.uk
7
Stroud District
Council
333 kg
carlos.novoth@st
roud.gov.uk
Tendring
District Council
333 kg
Michael Talbot
MichaelT@nse.co
.uk
www.win.org.uk
waste bin be required (we charge for these) Waste Advisors first visit the
property to ensure residents are recycling all they can and that the family
have at least 5 people living at the residence before the bin is issued.
Stroud is in Gloucestershire which had a figure of 520 kg/pp/pa in 2007/8.
Stroud want to take waste minimisation as far as possible. Stroud has always
been one of the leading recyclers, with a huge awareness of recycling and it
is considered a fairly green council. That and the public’s general wish to
recycle more which has always been there has been important. People who
want to do more than the norm!
We have spent a lot of money on awareness and have pushed some
innovative schemes which don’t necessarily do much to alter the bottom line
but have kept people’s focus on recycling and waste generally.
We have been selling bins since 1995 – we’ve sold approximately 15,000 bins
to date.
We have spent about 20,000 per year on keeping the recycling and waste
minimisation message alive. No garden waste is collected.
We recently rolled out ABCs on a trial basis to 1,700 properties (out of
48,000) working with a focus group. We split the properties into two for the
trial. There was a huge ‘minimisation effect’ on the properties with
restrictions on their side waste.
 One half were given 180 litre bins with closed lid / no side waste policy
but with the type of recycling people wanted including food waste
(collecting 2.5kg per household and increasing recycling to 55%)
 Other half – no limit and sacks for the other half.
In the area with the bins – tonnage dropped overnight! We were left
wondering if it went to the CA sites or if fly-tipped but they couldn’t find it! –
there is definitely a ‘minimisation effect’.
We received a CIWM excellence award.
Tendring District Council does not collect green waste from households.
Residents have purchased 22,000 subsidised compost bins, plus domestic
composting arrangements without bins where suitable. This means a very
large quantity of waste never enters the collection stream.
We have 63,700 properties and the County Council provide five Civic Amenity
sites in the district which last year collected 10,000 tonnes of green waste
from our residents who are unable to compost. A rough estimate of the total
green waste diverted from Landfill would be some 20,000 tonnes or an
additional 145 kg of waste to landfill per head of population.
On 1 January 2007 we introduced a weekly collection of recyclables. We
As our recycling percentage
collecting only dry recyclables
has increased, this has
obviously resulted in a reduced
tonnage of waste sent to
Landfill. Tendring has a low
Council Tax base so our
expenditure is limited but
currently the cost of waste
collection including recycling
win@southeastiep.gov.uk
8
Waverley
Borough
Council
336kg
Paul.Redmond@
waverley.gov.uk
Jennifer.Carson@
waverley.gov.uk
continue to encourage the establishment of local bring sites (see Annex 1
for more info) and where the site is provided by a voluntary organisation
we will pass on to them a sum equivalent to the recycling credits we receive.
The total number of such sites now exceeds eighty.
We use all methods available to publicise the value to the community of
recycling and feel, as an authority, that our residents are ‘on our side’.
Waverley is in Surrey which had a figure of 542 kg/pp/pa in 2007/8.
£36.30 per household.
The main driving force for change was moving to Alternate Bin Collections,
pushing residents down the line of increasing recycling but also minimisation
too. The recycling rate is now around 41% and arisings figures are much
lower since the introduction of ABCs. Before ABCs Waverley had a one-binonly policy – 240 litre. Residents can have 120 litre bin if they want. They can
have a bigger bin if large household.
Next year budgets are reducing considerably which will impact on Waveley’s
ability to, e.g. introduce food waste collections. The council has pushed green
cones and composters – heavily subsidised, though this has not been as
popular / successful as hoped. Car park sales are encouraged.
Kerbside recycling collections are for plastic bottles & cans mixed, glass and
paper. A subscribed garden waste collection operates with £40 for 2 bags, for
fortnightly collection, or £60 for 4 bags (90 litre bags). It is subsidised a
small amount – but this is to ensure it is priced realistically.
The low arisings figure may also have something to do with an elderly
population. They have no commercial waste.
Adur &
Worthing
Council
Services
336 kg
Paul.Willis@wort
hing.gov.uk
www.win.org.uk
Lots of old people! We have quite an elderly population and smallish
households. We have now introduced wheeled bins with limited capacity
which will further encourage recycling at the expense of refuse.
Went up for a while until about
4 years ago. Since then has
been coming down steadily.
win@southeastiep.gov.uk
9
TABLE 2
10 councils with largest decrease on previous year 2007/8
Local authority
(+ contact)
% change on
previous yr in Kg
HH Waste pp
North Cornwall
District Council
-13.64%
South Lakeland
District Council
-12.08%
Berwick upon
Tweed Council
-11.27%
Jan Anderson
ja@berwick-upontweed.gov.uk
Barnsley MBC
-11.10%
matthewbirkett@barns
ley.gov.uk
West Devon
Borough Council
-10.98%
Jane Savage
jsavage@westdevon.g
ov.uk
www.win.org.uk
1. How has the rate changed over the
past five years? Has it gone up, down
or fluctuated? Please provide data if
you have it.
2. Has your council actively tried to
reduce the kg of waste per head? If
yes, how?
Info supplied however the council preferred not to
share the response.
Verity Palk
verity.palk@ncdc.gov.uk
Info supplied however the council preferred not to
share the response.
Rob Kitchen
r.kitchen@southlakeland.gov.uk
Data for 06/07 and 07/08 shows a fall from 443.2
Kg/Head to 416 Kg/Head. Generally the weight per
head has been high compared to other district
councils and we have felt this was due to the
number of visitors we get which increases the
population from around 26,000 residents to
100,000 in the summer months.
We have been trying to educate people in separating
waste for recycling but not actively trying to reduce
the amount of waste produced. However, we think
the drop in waste collected has reflected a decrease
in visitors to the area as the summer was very wet
and the waste collected April to June was lower than
the same period the previous year. We have also
noticed a reduction in other visitor influenced income
streams such as car parking, public toilets, market.
For full details please see the new WIN case study:-
As a unitary authority, Barnsley is confident that
the large reduction in arisings is due to the
‘minimisation effect’ of introducing Alternate Bin
Collections: there was nothing else it could be
attributed to, for example, they were not
conducting any other promotion work and they
count CA site waste arisings in their data so it
could not have ‘disappeared’ to CA sites
The rate has fluctuated. Probably the over-riding
reason for the large decrease over the previous
year is the significant decrease in the amount of
street sweeping (leaves) collected and composted
in 2007-08.
http://www.win.org.uk/userfiles/File/Barnsley_waste
_arisings_casestudy_Jan09.pdf
Yes, through ‘real’ nappy and compost campaigns.
Whilst our ‘real’ nappy and compost campaigns have
no doubt had an impact on household waste
arisings, this impact is difficult to quantify and the
most significant reason for the decrease is the fall in
the amount of leaves collected.
win@southeastiep.gov.uk
10
Cumbria County
Council
graham.harrison@cum
briacc.gov.uk
-10.91%
Cumbria authorities had the highest waste arisings
per head figure in the country. Head of Waste
Management Graham Harrison and the team in
Cumbria CC worked with the district authorities to
tackle this issue in three ways:1. Estimates of mixed loads were re-assessed
2. Permit scheme was introduced for the
HWRC’s
3. Establishment of a waste prevention team
Rother District
Council
Year
fergus.cameron@roth
er.gov.uk
03/04
04/05
05/06
06/07
07/08
-10.77%
Waste
Arisin
g (kg)
406
411
409
408
368
Table above - rate 07/08 shows a significant drop
after some years of fairly constant waste/head.
Rate 08/09 is climbing back up again - and for
reasons, please read on.
Redcar & Cleveland
Borough Council
simon_waller@redcarcleveland.gov.uk
-9.29%
www.win.org.uk
Year
03/04
04/05
05/06
06/07
07/08
Waste Arising (kg)
514
481
456
486
441
For full details, please see the new WIN case study:http://www.win.org.uk/userfiles/File/Cumbria_waste
_arisings_casestudy_Jan09.pdf
At the beginning of 07/08, the Council moved from a
black bag, weekly, back-door collection regime to
AWC wheeled bin, with box recycling collections,
both at edge-of-curtilage. A new collection
contractor was employed.
1. Residual refuse is limited to 180 litre wheelies as
standard; larger are only available by request and
after verification of "exceptional" waste
requirements, e.g families of 5 or more. Also, a no
side waste rule is strictly enforced (as far as
practically possible).
2. With the new arrangements, a very extensive
promotional programme has been run (still running).
3. Continue to promote/support home composting.
From the 3rd quarter of 07/08 onwards, we have
rolled out green garden waste collections, and the
increased total waste figures are indicative of
diversion of green waste from CA sites to kerbside –
hence slightly higher numbers this year.
Yes. We have actively tried to reduce overall waste
arisings through the waste minimisation agenda and
also as part of the WRAP programme. Indeed, we
had a successful WRAP campaign of almost £200k
over 2006/08 on BCLF (behavioural change). This
transposed into the reductions experienced in 07/08
- in our experience there can often be a lagged
effect. In addition, RCBC has really pushed home
win@southeastiep.gov.uk
11
Swale Borough
Council
-9.24%
AlanTurner@swale.gov
.uk
Blackburn with
Darwen Borough
Council
-8.88%
Stuart.hammond@bla
ckburn.gov.uk
www.win.org.uk
General downward trend, with exception of 06/07.
Our rate has shown a marked decrease due to the
introduction of the AWC twin bin scheme in July
2007 and no side waste policy.
composting and are WRAP Partners in this regard.
Introduction of an AWC twin bin scheme July 2007
Starting in Sept 07 and finishing in Sept 08, over 3
phases, we went from fortnightly 240 ltr refuse
collections, to weekly 140 litre collections
Introduction of weekly 140 litre refuse collections
win@southeastiep.gov.uk
12
ANNEX 1
Local bring sites IN TENDRING: more information
The impact they have, is that were it not for them, items such as glass and textiles which we do not collect
on the doorstep, would be put in the black sacks for landfill, so they reduce our waste arisings.
We have schemes in Tendring such as TREE (Tendring Reuse Employment Enterprise) which takes
unwanted, but usable items from residents homes, repairs them if necessary and then sell (or gives if a
needy recipient) the items on to the market.
They have a shop in the High Street which takes only furniture, but the quality is good and the price
reasonable – such as two armchairs and a couch for £70 to £90. A nest of tables £30 etc. They can be
found at <www.tree1.org.uk> The organisation is a Charity fully supported by me as Tendring Portfolio
Holder and I made with them the submission of their grant application to the lottery fund which produced
around £250,000.
They are
Tendring
recycling
own bins
members of our local consultation group which meets around twice per year, known as TRAP –
Recycling Action Partnership, which contains five members of the public, Essex County Council
officer, the Environment Agency, Our Waste Contractor and the Contractors who manage their
on the Bring Sites, plus of course staff from my department.
www.win.org.uk
win@southeastiep.gov.uk