What is the Integrated Waste Strategy?
In 2006 we adopted the Integrated Waste Strategy for Leeds – a plan taking us to 2035, describing how we will meet government targets for recycling and reducing the waste sent to landfill.
We collect recyclable materials and waste from over 335,000 households in Leeds. This amounts to a massive 330,000 tonnes of rubbish a year.
Disposing of our waste in landfill impacts on the environment. When rubbish rots it produces methane gas which is twenty times worse than carbon dioxide in its contribution to climate change. We are all aware of the serious threat posed by this and the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
What progress have we made since we introduced the strategy?
Since the strategy was adopted, we have made great progress in developing an improved waste service in Leeds including:
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introducing garden waste collections to over 190,000 properties
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distributing over 10,000 composting bins
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piloting food waste collections
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offering more households access to kerbside recycling services
Our recycling performance is getting better. Our recycling rate has increased from 19.5 per cent (2004-05) to almost 34 per cent (2010-11). However we still need to improve to reach our goal of 50 per cent by 2020 and to stop sending waste to be buried in landfill. The huge cost of disposing of this waste increases each year due to the rising costs of landfill tax. We currently pay this tax at £56 per tonne and it will increase by £8 each year until 2014.
Our current Action Plan
The government has introduced new tougher targets for recycling: 40 per cent by 2010, 45 per cent by 2015, 50 per cent by 2020; targets that mean that we need to review our original Integrated Waste Strategy.
We have produced an updated action plan for the Waste Strategy, taking us to 2012. This explains what we will do to ensure we continue to improve and achieve a recycling rate of over 50 per cent. It can be downloaded from the links on the right.
In developing our revised action plan, we have ensured that all the key priorities and actions from the original Integrated Waste Strategy are included and no content has been lost.
Actions have now been regrouped into the following priority areas and spread across the three year plan:
When we complete the action plan, we will make a full review of the Integrated Waste Strategy - with full public consultation. Our vision continues to be that of a zero waste city, where we reduce, reuse, recycle and recover value from all waste; waste becomes a resource and no waste is sent to landfill.
What more can we do to achieve our recycling targets?
Our aspiration is to achieve a recycling rate of over 50% by 2020. We will do this by encouraging everyone to reduce, reuse and recycle their rubbish. The Council are improving recycling services, especially in areas that do not at the moment receive a service. Even after all efforts, there will still be a substantial proportion of waste that needs to be disposed of, collected mainly in black bins. This is called residual waste.
We have recently completed a bidding exercise to select a company to build and operate a waste treatment facility to deal with Leeds' residual waste. Further details are provided on the Residual waste treatment page.
If you have a query about the strategy and require more information, please email leeds.waste@leeds.gov.uk, or please write to:
Leeds Residual Waste Project
Environmental Services
Freepost RLXJ-ZYHY-GRSG
Leeds City Council
Knowsthorpe Gate
Cross Green
Leeds
LS9 0NP