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Stevenage Borough Council is aiming to promote and increase recycling rates across SBC sites, residential housing and commercial buildings.
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On average, a person within the UK throws away around 400 kg of waste every year. During 2023/24, the Council collected more than 30,500 tonnes of waste, with approximately 12,000 tonnes recycled or composted, and just over 18,500 tonnes unable to be recycled or composted, also known as residual waste.
Based on these figures, the average Stevenage resident produces 344 kg of waste per year, slightly under the national average.
What role does SBC play?
SBC is part of the Hertfordshire Waste Partnership (HWP), where county, district and borough councils work together to reduce, reuse, and recycle waste. Different initiatives and campaigns have been put in place thanks to the HWP. For more information on these initiatives, please see the tasks section below.
In addition to the partnership and regular collections, the Council also provides local schools with recycling services for their paper, glass, tins, plastic and food waste. Moreover, the Council offers educational opportunities on reducing waste, recycling, litter and sustainability. Further information: Schools Recycling and Support.
Where does my waste go?
What can I recycle?
Find out more about what you can and cannot recycle at home using Your A-Z Recycling Guide (contensis.com) and where you can take items for recycling at Recycling Centre (stevenage.gov.uk) and Recycling Banks (stevenage.gov.uk).
The Government's Simpler Recycling legislation requires the implementation of separate weekly food waste collections to households. The Council is preparing for the introduction of this new service by 31 March 2026.
Preliminary work is underway for phase 2 of the flat black recycling pilot scheme, due to be completed during 2025-26. Phase 2 will replicate phase 1 selecting suitable sites to improve recycling at flats through the installation of new infrastructure and signage.
The Recycling Road Show was hosted in the Event Island for residents to join and learn about SBC's recycling process. SBC's waste management partners also joined to educate residents on the process of mixed and glass recycling. The space also served as an opportunity for residents to tell officers what they would need to improve their recycling habits.
The flats recycling pilot project commenced in August 2022 and concluded in July 2023. New recycling infrastructure and signage were installed at six pilot flat blocks across Stevenage. New communications materials were issued and monitoring of the use of the recycling bins before and after installation was completed. The project saw a huge 185% increase in the amount of recycling collected across the six sites. This has the potential to generate an additional £3,530.28 of revenue annually from recycling tonnage collected at these six sites. We are exploring options to expand the recycling pilot as part of the second phase of the project.