The Chartered Institution of Wastes Management (CIWM) and environmental consultancy firm Ricardo-AEA are calling on local authorities in the UK and Republic of Ireland to complete a survey about the impact of austerity measures on local waste, recycling and street cleansing services.

The survey forms part of a new project that seeks to outline the range of efficiency saving and improvement measures that are being implemented by authorities (in areas such as household waste collection scheme design, household waste recycling centres and bring bank provision, and partnership working) as a result of central government budget cuts.

It aims to address the gap in knowledge about the specific impact of public funding cuts on waste, recycling and street cleansing services, both now and in the future.

According to Ricardo AEA, this research will also identify solutions implemented by councils that have led to a more efficient service, with improved financial, environmental and social outcomes. It said the work could also provide ‘clear insights combined with extensive peer experience to support future decision-making and enable other councils to effectively implement similar successful changes’.

As such, it is hoped that the project will be useful to local authorities as they approach the next stage of budget cuts.

Survey questions

Questions in the survey include:

• How has your department’s budget been affected by reductions in government funding (2010/11-2014/15)?
• How is your department’s budget likely to be affected by austerity measures in the next five years?
• How do you think this compares to other department/service areas in your authority?

Local Authorities are also asked to explain whether and how they have made changes to waste, cycling and street cleansing services, and collection services, in response to austerity cuts.

Once the survey findings are in, a few local authorities will be contacted for more information and to ‘enable better understanding of the impact of the cuts’. It is hoped that this will lead to best practice case studies being developed.

Organisations that work with local authorities are also being asked to complete a survey about their experiences of the cut impacts. Questions in this survey include:

• Have the local authorities that you work with had their waste services impacted by the cuts to date?
• How have the goods, services and support your organisation provides been changed by the cuts?

Local authorities and organisations that work with them have until 28 September to complete the survey.

The findings will be published in Spring 2015.

“A valuable insight into the impact of waste management policies”

Speaking of the project, Adam Read, Ricardo-AEA Practice Director for Resource Efficiency and Waste Management, said: “The survey’s findings will provide a valuable insight into the impact of waste management policies and will highlight best practice for future decision-making.”

He added, “We’ve designed the survey to be simple to complete and would encourage all local authorities and partner organisations to take part in order to better understand the challenges being faced.”

Complete the ‘Impacts of austerity measures on local authority waste and environmental quality services’ survey.