Surrey Waste Partnership (SWP) is calling on residents to respond to its consultation on its revised Plan for Waste Management to help ‘make sure the county's waste is managed in the best, most cost effective way’.

The consultation, which opened on 3 July and runs until 12 October 2014, is asking residents to provide information on ‘what they need’ to help them reduce, reuse and recycle more waste.

According to SWP, managing householders’ waste is a ‘challenging and costly job’ so the Plan for Waste Management is revised on a ‘regular basis’ to ensure ‘Surrey’s waste [is managed] in the best, most cost effective way’.

Consultation details

The survey identifies the difference between eliminating and reducing waste, reuse and recycling and seeks to explore residents’ understanding and motivation around the waste being produced in their households and what they can do about it.

Residents are asked to complete a five-question multiple-choice questionnaire online, which includes the following questions:

• What prevents you from reducing the amount of waste you produce?
• Is there anything else that prevents you from reducing your waste?
• What prevents you from recycling more?
• Are there any specific materials that you have a problem with recycling, i.e food, plastics, textiles, glass, cans?

‘Six key principles’

According to SWP, there are six ‘key’ principles that form its latest waste plan. These are:

• ensuring Surrey’s waste and recycling services meet residents’ current and future needs;
• helping all of the organisations involved in the reuse, recycling or disposal of waste to ‘work together effectively’;
• providing value for money for the Surrey taxpayer;
• benefitting the environment, community and economy;
• thinking of waste and recycling as a resource rather than something that gets thrown away; and
• developing services ‘innovatively’.

SWP is made up of 11 district and borough councils across the county. It is one of the signatories of the Resource Association’s End Destinations of Recycling Charter, which seeks to inform the public about where their recycled materials end up, to improve transparency in the recycling supply chain and enhance public confidence in the recycling process.

Respond to Surrey Waste Partnership’s consultation on the Plan for Waste Management.