The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has been consulting on the national Resources and Waste Strategy (RaWS) over the last 4 years with a series of prolonged delays in publishing consultation responses. On Saturday 21 October, government published a further two publications for consultation. The consultation runs for four weeks with a closing date of Monday 20 November 2023.
Please find attached 2 consultation responses required by the recent Simpler Recycling documents issued by Defra. These are:
1) Consultation on exemptions and statutory guidance for Simpler Recycling in England. This is the significant area of consultation and key points are the proposed exemption to enable collection of mixed dry recyclables and the exemption to permit collections of mixed garden and food waste which we support. The proposal for a minimum standard for residual waste collection on a fortnightly basis is not supported as that will adversely affect Bury Council as we collect on a 3 weekly basis.
2) Consultation on additional policies related to Simpler Recycling in England – this sets out proposals for non domestic premises such as places of worship, buildings used for public meetings etc to be provided with the same collection arrangements as domestic properties.
The responses have been developed in conjunction with Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), Waste Resource Action Programme (WRAP), Association for Public Service Excellence (APSE), Charted Institute of Waste management (CIWM) and The Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee (LARAC) and are due for submission on Monday 20th November.
This report asks permission to submit our response to Defra.