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Recycling and rubbish

Household waste is collected by district and borough councils. It is then disposed of by the county council, who also run Household Waste Recycling Centres.

To make sure that these functions are well co-ordinated, we work together closely through the Hertfordshire Waste Partnership.

For more information on waste collections, household waste recycling centres and recycling including hazardous substances, go to www.wasteaware.org.uk

The challenge for the county council

Last year, residents in Hertfordshire produced more than half a million tonnes of household waste. We recycled 44% of this, which is great news. However, approximately 360,000 tonnes of waste, enough to fill two Wembley stadiums, still went to landfill. Household waste makes up only about a quarter of the total waste produced in Hertfordshire – on top of this is commercial, industrial, construction, demolition and other forms of waste.

The county council has two separate responsibilities for waste.

Waste disposal

The county council, as Waste Disposal Authority, is responsible for finding ways to dispose of the 600,000 tonnes of household waste Hertfordshire’s residents produce each year. The Hertfordshire Waste Partnership has developed a Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy that sets out policies for how we will do this. At the heart of the strategy is the principle: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

We want to

• Reduce the amount of waste we all produce
• Reuse as much of the material as possible
• Recycle materials that cannot be reused

before responsibly disposing of whatever is left.

Our recycling levels are very encouraging but we can do better. Government and European Union legislation means local authorities will face fines of up to an estimated £3bn if they do not reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill. These fines will reduce the amount of money the county council can spend on providing other important services. The county council is committed to helping residents recycle more and has set a target of at least 50% recycling by 2012 – this would represent an additional 60,000 tonnes of waste being recycled on top of current amounts.

However, whilst our focus is on reducing, reusing and recycling waste, there will always be some material left over that cannot be recycled. Currently, this is estimated at 170,000 tonnes per year. Our strategy commits us to moving away from a reliance on landfill for waste that cannot be reused or recycled and we are therefore looking at ways to recover this waste.

For more information on the alternatives to landfill, click on the link below.