News
New survey takes the lid off your views on waste
This feature was added on 14th August 2007
Nearly all Hertfordshire residents are keen to cut down on waste and to recycle more - and most want manufacturers to help out by cutting down on packaging. These are the headline results of a comprehensive survey by the Hertfordshire Waste Partnership, which has just been published.
The partnership, which comprises the county council and all ten district councils, carried out an extensive public consultation earlier this year to seek people's views on ways of reducing waste, increasing recycling, and methods of dealing with the remaining waste.
Around 11,000 residents and organisations responded to the questionnaire survey in total, and the responses have now been analysed and presented in a report issued by the partnership.
The report shows overwhelming support (98 per cent) for reducing the amount of waste we produce. More than 70 per cent agreed that we should recycle at least half of our waste by 2012 - while most of those who did not agree with this target wanted that figure to be higher!
Other responses to the survey indicate that there is strong support for:
- Getting manufacturers and retailers to reduce the amount of non-recyclable packaging that is used on products (98 per cent in favour)
- Doing more publicity to help encourage waste reduction (84 per in favour)
- Promoting home composting to minimise waste (86 per cent in favour)
- Using real nappies rather than disposables (80 per cent in favour).
- Investigating the potential for turning waste into energy (94 per cent in favour)
The results also indicate that there is strong support for compulsory recycling (82 per cent in favour), but people are far less keen on being charged according to the amount of rubbish they produce - with 60 per cent against this idea.
While research carried out by the Local Government Association reveals that recycling rates have increased significantly in areas where alternate weekly collections and smaller bins have already been introduced, the WasteAware survey shows that local people are not convinced - 70 per cent were against the idea.
Since the consultation closed the Hertfordshire Waste Partnership have been analysing the results and using them to influence the final form of the Strategy. The updated Strategy documents were approved by the Hertfordshire Waste Partnership at their July meeting and are currently with each Hertfordshire authority for formal endorsement.
Derrick Ashley, Chair of the Hertfordshire Waste Partnership said: 'We had an excellent response to the consultation earlier in the year. Now we've had the chance to break down all the figures it's abundantly clear that most Hertfordshire residents support our aims to reduce waste and to recycle more. This is a fantastic result, which demonstrates the success of the WasteAware campaign over the years and shows that local people are right behind it - or even ahead of it, in some cases!'
Councillor Phil Brading, deputy chair of the Hertfordshire Waste Partnership, said: 'The next steps for the partnership will include practical measures to reduce waste, increase recycling and composting, and identify suitable treatments for the remaining waste, to reduce the need for landfill. The results of the consultation are now out for all to see and we hope to publish the updated waste strategy in the autumn.'