WEST LONDON BOROUGHS AGREE ACTION PLAN TO REDUCE WASTE
The six councils serving west London have agreed a joint action plan to reduce waste generated by over 21,000 tonnes per year by 2015.
West London residents already recycle and compost more of their waste than most other parts of the capital. This new initiative will involve Brent, Ealing, Harrow, Hillingdon, Hounslow and Richmond upon Thames councils encouraging the area’s community of over 1.4 million residents and 80,000 businesses to:
· Avoid waste – for example by smarter food shopping and using leftovers
· Reduce waste – including by increasing composting at home
· Reuse things – for instance by passing them on to others or donating to charities
· Repair things – rather than replacing them
Attention will be focussed on five key types of things often thrown away – food, textiles and shoes, disposable nappies, electrical items, and furniture. Together, these represent nearly half of the total waste in west London that isn’t recycled.
Chair of West London Waste Authority, Councillor Bassam Mahfouz, said; “We recognise that reducing the waste we generate in west London is not just desirable, it’s essential. The cost of burying waste at landfill sites is escalating and there’s a real drive to reduce carbon emissions.
“Over the next few years we want to help make reducing and re-using socially responsible habits in the same way that recycling has become.”
Two major campaigns, one building on the national “Love Food, Hate Waste” scheme, and another encouraging home composting, will be the cornerstones of activity over the next year to help establish waste prevention as a socially responsible habit in the same way that recycling has become.
The six boroughs will also be working with the London Reuse Network and London Waste And Recycling Board to establish a network of reuse facilities in west London.
Other activities will include:
Food Waste
· A range of community events to raise awareness
· Recruiting one school in each borough to become an example of best practice in reducing food waste
· Encouraging an additional 6,600 homes to compost across the six boroughs
· Launching an online guide for businesses on how to reduce food waste
Textiles and Shoes
· Trialling clothes swapping events in each borough
Nappies
· Promoting the advantages of washable nappies
Electrical Items
· Asking residents to place working electrical items in separate containers at Household Reuse and Recycling Centres so they can be re-used
Furniture
· Encouraging residents to make donations to reuse projects
· Encouraging residents to consider buying good quality second hand goods rather than new items
· Council call centres mentioning offering re-use opportunities to people requesting bulky item waste collections
· Working with housing associations to encourage furniture re-use