Rutland aims to Waste Less and Recycle More

Rutland County Council is urging residents to join them in helping to Waste Less, Recycle More, following a recent composition analysis of Rutland’s bins.

A waste composition analysis of black bins completed earlier this year shows that 43% of Rutland’s household waste is food and 16% is recyclables that could be put in the grey recycling bin for kerbside collection – well over half of what we are putting in our black bins could be reduced or recycled!

Recyclables that were found in black bins include cardboard, metal, glass and plastic. All of these materials (apart from black plastic) can be recycled in the grey bin and collected at kerbside. If you need further information on what can be recycled then please go to our Waste and recycling A to Z.

"With national waste reforms soon to be enforced by the government, it is vital that we look at Rutland’s waste and how we can reduce what is unnecessarily being thrown away. Not only will this help the environment by reducing what goes to incinerators, but it will also help reduce rising financial pressures on the council and, of course, residents’ own purses. We are therefore urging residents to get behind our ‘Waste Less, Recycle More’ campaign by planning meals, using leftovers, understanding what can be recycled in our grey bins and ensuring recycling is clean, dry and loose. Every little bit we all do will have an important impact on Rutland’s overall waste levels as well as ultimately saving money on weekly shopping."

Cllr Christine Wise Cabinet Member for Transport, Environment and Communities

National waste reforms include all local authorities having to introduce a statutory food waste collection by 2026. Rutland County Council’s current municipal waste strategy has been revisited to take account of statutory requirements and new exemptions with respect to the design of the waste and recycling collection service.

"It's evident that the statutory introduction of food waste collections will put further financial pressures on our service, however, it is also clear from the composition analysis that food waste collections are needed in Rutland and could be extremely successful should residents get behind it. Looking at the results of the analysis we can see that by introducing a food waste collection alone we can potentially reduce what is in our black bin by almost half. If we then look at recycling more it could mean over half of the waste we currently put in our black bin could be diverted away from incineration. We understand that this will require residents to look at their waste differently moving forward, so our Waste Less, Recycle More campaign aims to highlight all of the information they need to make this easier - please look out for more to come."

Cllr Christine Wise

A report to Cabinet on 12 November will make recommendations on a new food waste service, dry mixed recycling (DMR) and in principle recommendations on residual waste collection in Rutland, considering the financial pressures created from the provision of the new food waste service. Further reports will follow in this regard once funding and statutory guidance has been confirmed by government.

The report will first go to Overview and Scrutiny on 17 October for them to consider and give their recommendations in preparation for Cabinet.

All agenda items and minutes of meetings can be found on our Council meetings page.