Reducing waste: creating a new waste strategy
UPDATE, JANUARY 2024:
In line with our Executive's decision in March 2023, we'll be changing how we collect rubbish and recycling from most households in mid-August.
Please visit our dedicated webpages to find out more, and subscribe to our Rubbish & Recycling newsletter for more updates as the changes get nearer.
The below information, including the attached leaflets, are for historic purposes only and may no longer be up to date.
For the latest information on rubbish and recycling in Wokingham Borough, including how you can play your part, visit our website or our partners at re3.
If you want to know how or where to recycle a particular item, you can also visit the Recycle Now page for some free and helpful advice.
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Our current waste collection contract expires in 2026, which gives us the opportunity to change how we collect all rubbish and recycling.
As part of our work to become carbon neutral by 2030, and to meet the Government's expectations for all councils, we want to significantly increase our recycling rate from the current figure of 57 per cent.
To get there, we'll need to make some changes.
We're working on a waste strategy that will shape our future waste collections. We have three key priorities to consider as part of this work:
- our recycling rate and reducing waste
- resident satisfaction
- our cost
Due to the financial pressures we've been facing since 2022, we need to make changes sooner than 2026.
Phases
Phase 5: Proposals on potential changes
During this phase, we prepared our proposals on potential changes to your rubbish and recycling collections which were in line with residents' views as well as the findings from extensive research and analysis.
Financial and environmental benefits
In 2021, we commissioned the independent consultancy WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme) to carry out in-depth analysis and modelling on different ways to collect waste in the borough.
Their findings show that fortnightly rubbish and recycling collections alongside weekly food waste collections would help increase the borough's recycling rate from the current 54 per cent to 64 per cent and save us £500,000 in the 2024/25 financial year and £1 million per year after that.