Westmorland and Furness council are inviting residents to share their views on options for future waste and recycling services in the district.
Following on from the councils first-stage 'Community
Conversation' engagement in November and December, Westmorland and Furness
Council is now seeking people's thoughts on options such as the sizes of
containers, frequency of collections and full or partial subscription charges
for green waste collections.
The results of this new stage of community consultation will
be used to help finalise the design of the new-look services – with the first
changes being rolled out before the end of the year.
Councillor Giles Archibald, Westmorland and Furness
Council's Cabinet Member for Climate, Biodiversity and Environmental Services,
said: "We want to reduce waste, increase recycling, and provide improved
services for our residents.
"To achieve this, we have said we want to create a new
single waste and recycling service for the whole of Westmorland and Furness, a
service that makes it easier and more convenient for people to recycle more and
waste less, and that is more reliable, cost-effective and better for the
environment.
"We want to involve our communities in helping us to
design the new-look services and we have already had some excellent feedback
from nearly 3,000 people during our 'Community Conversation' at the end of last
year.
"This has helped us better understand your thoughts on
the current waste and recycling collection services in your area – what you
like, what you would like to change and what you'd like to see in the future.
"Thanks to that feedback we've been trialling different
collection methods and containers, including a trial of 'co-mingled' recycling
in Ulverston and a trial of wheelie bins in parts of the Eden area that
currently have bags for general waste collections. Residents in those trial
areas have been telling us how they have found the new arrangements and whether
it is making it easier for them to recycle more and waste less.
"We have also started to roll-out the kerbside
collection of beverage cartons (such as Tetrapak), starting in the Eden area,
after feedback that you wanted to be able to recycle these types of items more
easily.
"Now we have used all this information to come up with
some options for how new collection services could look and we would love to
hear people's views on the options being considered.''
For more information about the options and to complete the
Options Consultation survey, go to: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/wasteoptions
The feedback from the Options Consultation will be
considered alongside independent assessment of factors such as how the options
fit with national legislation, do they make services fairer, how would they
impact the environment, whether they are sustainable and whether they could
contribute to more efficient and cost-effective services.
For more information about the criteria being used in the
assessment, what the changes would mean for collections in your area, a summary
of results from the 'Community Conversation' engagement and answers to
questions about the options being considered, see the council's website:
https://www.westmorlandandfurness.gov.uk/waste-and-recycling-options-consultation
Councillors will make a final decision on the new-look
services later this year, with the first changes being rolled out by the end of
2025.
Councillor Archibald continued: "Your opinions and
views really matter to us.
"We have been listening to your feedback and this has
been invaluable in helping us devise trials and pilot schemes to ensure we get
plenty of input from our communities as we design these options.
"We are very grateful to everyone who tells us what
they think about the proposed changes by completing the Options Consultation
survey. Your views will be helping to shape the future of waste and recycling
services for the whole of Westmorland and Furness.''
Paper copies of the survey will be available in the
receptions of the council's main public buildings at Barrow Town Hall, Kendal
Town Hall and Voreda House, Penrith, as well as council libraries.
The survey opened today, 14 May 2025, and will run for eight
weeks.
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