The Authority has made significant progress in improving its recycling performance since 2004 when it introduced alternate weekly collections of residual and garden waste and an expanded weekly collection of dry recyclate. The recycling rate has leaped from 9.6% in 2003/04 to 38.3% in 2006/07 and there has been a 3% reduction in the total amount of waste produced by households over the same period.

There are however a number of impending changes and drivers which will affect the waste management service over the next five years. These include the European Landfill Directive, which places a duty on member states to decrease the quantities of biodegradable wastes that can be sent to landfill. A series of targets have been set up to the year 2020 and failure to meet these targets could result in punitive fines for the Council which would ultimately have to be passed back to the tax payer.

In order to address these challenges the Authority has recently adopted a robust and sustainable Waste Strategy. Within the proposal is a plan containing a number of key waste objectives, which aim to expand the service in order to achieve recycling rates of 40% in 2008/09 and 50% in 2011/12. The plan reflects the targets contained in the Waste Strategies that have recently been published by both the Government and the Joint Waste Board for Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent. However achievement of the medium and long-term targets contained within the plan is dependant on the Authority being able to afford to expand the range of materials collected from the kerbside and the availability of local facilities to reprocess the recyclate. .

The Strategy also introduces proposals to ensure a greater integration between household and commercial waste streams in order to gain potential economies of scale on collection, management and recovery.

Further information on the Strategy and its implications can be obtained by contacting the Waste Management Team on 01827 709353.