Last week, FRM attended the annual CIWM and LARAC conference at Craemer UK, Telford, where our Director, Paul Frith, delivered a presentation on what is next for Council’s Resource and Waste Strategies. With a well engaged audience, we were able to collect some interesting insights around the status of Resource and Waste Strategies amongst local authority representatives, see below for details…

As we await further clarity from government regarding future policy, such as consistent collections, it is no surprise that the majority† (59%) of respondents stated that they were awaiting clarity on this before developing their strategies. 9% are pressing on with developing theirs anyway, ~19% had a strategy in place, although this required a refresh, and only ~3% had one which was up to date.

Resources and Waste Strategies are one of our core services at FRM, and we have observed a range of motivations as to why local authorities are developing these. Commonly, it is a means to set out a vision and actions for service delivery, in light and consideration of current legislation and policy. It is also an opportunity for councils to engage with residents and stakeholders, to seek their views through a consultation process. Sometimes, particularly in two tier areas, it is an opportunity for joint strategic thinking and collaboration, to the benefit of the taxpayers as a whole. A recent strategy we updated was still in date, but was written over ten years ago, well before the R&WS for England, and procurement decisions were required for the long term, necessitating long term thinking and service delivery planning.

Options appraisals are a key element of strategy development, which FRM has supported numerous clients with. These are recommended as they underpin strategy direction through evaluating options to drive waste and resources up the waste hierarchy. As well as this, options appraisals can also inform recycling targets, determine carbon impacts, identify savings / efficiencies and provide evidence for compliance (e.g. TEPSEB). With ambitions varying from council to council, there are a vast amount of options which could be appraised – for those authorities that have recently published Resources & Waste Strategies, a summary of collection options evaluated is below.

This shows that Councils are needing to explore a range of options in the absence of policy certainty, and in many cases are needing to press on without it. The next blog explains what can be done in Resource & Waste strategies to address all the impending policy changes.

FRM provide support with Resource and Waste Management Strategies, Options Appraisals and Public Consultation. If looking for support in this area or for an informal chat, contact paul@frithrm.com or call 01746 552423.

† We excluded those for which the Strategy question was ‘not applicable’