Surrey Environment Partnership (SEP) has been shortlisted for two categories at one of the recycling industry’s most prestigious awards ceremonies.
The partnership is up for the Team of the Year and Local Authority Success – Targeted Improvement Scheme categories at the National Recycling Awards. Both awards are for its work on improving recycling at blocks of flats, which has successfully increased recycling rates across the county.
With recycling at blocks of flats a recognised problem area within the industry, the partnership established a team dedicated to the issue in April 2017. They’ve since carried out trials to monitor how services were performing, introduce interventions and measure their effect.
As a result, recycling increased everywhere that the team visited and contamination of recycling bins with material that can’t be recycled reduced by 12 percentage points. Food, textiles and small electricals recycling collections were also introduced at many blocks, allowing residents to recycle even more waste.
Due to this success the team will extend its work to blocks of flats across the county. It’s been estimated that around £900,000 of savings a year could be made if the interventions are rolled out to all flats countywide. This has the potential to increase the county’s already high recycling rate of over 57% by 2.4 percentage points with payback for the taxpayer expected in 18 months.
Winners will be announced on 27 June at the London Hilton on Park Lane. The prestigious awards bring together recycling and waste management professionals from all over the country to recognise and celebrate best practice and innovation.
ENDS
Editor’s notes
For further information, contact comms@surreyep.org.uk.
Surrey Environment Partnership
The Surrey Environment Partnership is made up of Surrey County Council and the 11 district and borough councils in the county. It aims to manage Surrey’s waste in the most efficient, effective, economical and sustainable manner.
The 11 district and borough councils are waste collection authorities (WCAs) and are responsible for the collection of Surrey’s municipal waste which includes waste from households. The county council is the waste disposal authority and is responsible for the disposal and treatment of Surrey’s municipal waste collected at the kerbside and waste and recycling from Surrey’s community recycling centres (CRCs).
To find out more, visit www.surreyep.org.uk.
Surrey Environment Partnership’s flats team, left to right Chris Teal, Wilhelmina Lutterodt-Schandorf, Shelley Holmes.