Waste and recycling services are among the most visible services councils run.
Local residents take a keen interest in what happens to their bins. We support high recycling rates for householders and businesses and are working hard to make sure councils are able to reduce landfill and tackle climate change through increasing recycling.
There are approximately 23 million dwellings in England most of which require a weekly or fortnightly refuse and recycling collection. Councils spend £852m per year on waste collection, and given that many contracts were negotiated several years ago and are ready for renewal, even a small efficiency saving of say 5 per cent would equate to a £42.6m reduction in spend in this area.
In 2015 we supported 11 projects involving 60 councils across England to run projects intended to bring about efficiencies and savings to council's waste and recycling budget.
Councils have long been at the forefront of the move to a low carbon economy by adopting energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies. This has already led to impressive cost savings and a wide range of additional benefits. As local government continues to suffer cuts to its budgets there is an even stronger incentive for councils to maximise the potential for energy-related income and savings. This report sets out the scale of the financial opportunities available to councils from energy efficiency and renewable energy sources.
on the outcomes of two of their four trials.
includes evaluating the potential for a gas powered refuse collection fleet and the necessary infrastructure changes to serve a gas powered fleet.