Talking Rubbish Turns Productive for Council as Thousands Weigh In on Waste Plans

Westmorland and Furness Council are currently consulting on the councils plans for the future of waste and recycling across the district have so far seen around 4,000 residents complete the councils survey and provided feedback through the options under consultation, sharing their views on options such as sizes of containers and frequency of collections.

Part of the council's current community consultation to gather views on how waste and recycling collections across Westmorland and Furness should be delivered has seen staff from the waste engagement team set up stalls in street markets and community venues over the last month. 

The council team visited Alston, Kendal, Barrow, Appleby, Ulverston and Penrith to talk rubbish with people and were able to chat face-to-face with more than 300 people about the councils plans and options.

For more information about the options and to take part and have your say in the consultation you can complete the Options Consultation Survey online or paper copies of the survey area available in the receptions of Voreda House as well as council libraries.

Councillor Giles Archibald, Westmorland and Furness Council's Cabinet Member for Climate, Biodiversity and Environmental Services, said: "We've already had a fantastic response to our community consultation and it was great to see so many people visit our market stall sessions during June.

"Some people had come specifically to speak to the team having seen the event advertised and some were just passing and saw the stall and came along for a chat and to ask questions.

"The team spoke to around 300 people with the busiest day being at Penrith Market. During the market stall sessions more than 100 paper copies of the consultation survey were handed out and overall we've now had about 4,000 responses to our survey.

"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 hear from as many people as possible before we finalise designs for the new-look services and we are determined to make sure these services work for our communities.

"The survey runs until 11 July, so if you haven't already had your say there is still plenty of time to share your thoughts and comments.''

The options being consulted on now have been developed following feedback from an initial 'Community Conversation' engagement at the end of last year, when nearly 3,000 people shared their thoughts on current waste and recycling collection services in their area – what they like, what they would like to change and what they would like to see in the future.

Using early feedback, the council has 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 Penrith that currently have blue bags for general waste collections. Residents in the trial areas have shared how they found the new arrangements and whether it made it easier for them to recycle more and waste less.

The council has also started to roll-out the kerbside collection of beverage cartons (such as Tetrapak), starting in the Eden area, after feedback that residents wanted to be able to recycle these items more easily.

The Council will consider the feedback from the current Options Consultation 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 councils dedicated website page on the Waste and Recycling Options Consultation.

A final decision on the new-look services will be made later this year, with the first changes being rolled out by the end of 2025.