Stratford District Council's Cabinet approvals joint Waste and Recycling proposal with Warwick District Council

On Monday 9 November, Stratford-on-Avon District Council's Cabinet approved proposals for a joint waste and recycling contract with Warwick District Council.

Cllr Ian Shenton, Operations Portfolio at Stratford-on-Avon District Council says: "This joint procurement process and contract with Warwick District Council, is a sign of our ever closer working relationship which should benefit the residents of both districts.

"The new contract, if agreed by Full Council, will commence in August 2022 some 21 months hence but it is essential that we start the process now."

Part of the new contract proposals includes the introduction of a joint 123+ services - moving to a 3-weekly collection of residual waste to encourage further recycling.

Cllr Shenton continued: "Our recycling rate at around 60% and Warwick District Council's of 55% are well ahead of the Government's target of 50% by this year.  By moving to a 123+ approach with weekly food waste collections, two weekly recyclable waste collections and three weekly residual waste collections, we hope to build on the great efforts already made by our residents.

"The benefits of the new collection model, are increased recycling levels, reduced levels of waste going to landfill, separate food waste collections, more efficient use of refuse vehicles and reduction in mileage travelled through smarter routing especially on the border between Warwick and Stratford districts.  This definitely addresses and takes into account the climate emergency agenda.

"The model will also see changes to the food waste collection by not entering the residual, recycling or green waste streams, instead the intention is for it to go to an anaerobic digester further removing harmful greenhouse gases from landfill. Food waste, in particular releases methane gas when decomposing and is up to 35 times worse than CO2 for our climate.  This is a big step in reducing harmful greenhouse gases from our waste stream.

"This proposal is good for the environment as well as mitigating the inevitable increase in gate fees and waste disposal costs when the current contract expires in July 2022."

The recommendation, subject to Warwick District Council adopting the same recommendation at their Executive meeting on 18 November, will now go to Full Council for approval.

Both Warwick and Stratford-on-Avon District Councils are committed to improving their services for the residents of South Warwickshire and are investigating joint working and shared services. Management roles in ICT and Neighbourhood Services are already being shared across the two councils, as is the prospect of a joint Local Plan for our communities, to secure long-term benefits. 

Combining waste collection under one contract, is the next service to be proposed for joint working by both councils.  The contracts for both councils finish around the same time, which presents an opportunity to review procuring a combined service across the whole of South Warwickshire, serving 126,000 households.

A new contract would focus on achieving both environmental and financial benefits; encouraging residents to increase their household recycling, reduce residual waste and reduce the cost of treating and disposing of rubbish. In addition, it will support the ambition of both councils to achieve carbon-neutral status for their districts by 2030.