Liverpool City Council’s Cabinet is set to consider a new Zero Waste Strategy, which will look to rid the City Region of all unnecessary waste by 2040.
The strategy, co-created by all councils in the Liverpool City Region and the Merseyside Recycling and Waste Authority (MRWA), is an important step towards the Council’s plans to significantly reduce carbon emissions from waste collection and disposal in the next 15 years.
If agreed at next week’s Cabinet Meeting, the strategy will work alongside the Council’s Recycling and Waste Strategy, which was adopted earlier this year.
Currently, waste collection and processing in Liverpool creates 51,751 tonnes of CO2 each year, the equivalent of 9,200 car journeys circumnavigating the globe.
Both the newly proposed strategy and existing waste strategy share targets to reduce purple bin waste by 50 per cent by 2040 and achieve a recycling rate of 65 per cent, up from the current rate of 17.9 per cent, in the next 10 years.
The Zero Waste Strategy, if agreed, could reduce carbon emissions emitted by waste collection and processing across the region by 80 per cent.
To help reach these goals, the strategy adopts three main themes of ‘People, Planet, and Economy’. Together, the City Region partnership would focus on awareness and education, promoting positive behaviours in buying habits to prevent waste from being created in the first place.
This includes meal planning to prevent excess food, reusing and repairing items rather than throwing them away, and buying second hand.
The strategy explains that the best way to remove carbon emissions from waste is by creating a circular economy. This means encouraging businesses and manufacturers to reduce waste created during the production process, while making materials that can be used again and again.
If items do need to be thrown away, they should be recycled so that the raw materials can be used to manufacture new products.
One major step towards a circular economy is the introduction of a food waste collection, which all local authorities across the country must introduce by the end of March next year.
Households across Liverpool will have a new, weekly food waste collection, which will see unused food taken away to be broken down and repurposed.
The Council is committed to reducing the amount of carbon released into the atmosphere. In 2019, it declared a climate emergency, followed by an action plan to reach net zero across all Council operations by 2030.
One of the key aims outlined in the plan is to tackle the carbon footprint created through waste collection and processing. Both strategies outline clear steps needed in Liverpool to reach this goal.
Work has already started to meet these goals, with the introduction of solar bins and underground refuse bins across the city, as well as optimising collection routes. Together, these changes have reduced the frequency of collections and to the number of emissions released while doing so.
The Council has also worked with residents to promote positive waste behaviours, including the introduction of a new environmental enforcement team to tackle fly-tipping and Keep Liverpool Tidy, which has seen a big increase in community litter picking since it started in 2022.
Further support is available for residents looking to reduce their waste on zerowastelcr.com, including an interactive map featuring charity shops, refill shops, and repair and reuse organisations.
Councillor Liam Robinson, Leader of Liverpool City Council said: “Liverpool City Council remains fully committed to achieving net zero, and the new Zero Waste Strategy will be a crucial step towards that goal.
“By working in partnership with our City Region colleagues, we can create meaningful change that benefits everyone, but we can’t do this alone. Only by working together serving residents and businesses can we fully address the climate crisis and create a sustainable future.
“Not only will this strategy help us to do our bit to protect the planet, but it will also save residents money. If we repair and reuse more often than throwing away, there’ll be less need to buy new items and we can move towards eliminating single-use materials.
“Together we can create a greener, more sustainable Liverpool for future generations.”
Councillor Laura Robertson-Collins, Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods, Communities and Streetscene said: “Our Recycling and Waste Strategy already sets out an action plan to reduce the amount of rubbish across the city and this new Zero Waste Strategy is further confirmation that these steps are vital.
“While the waste that doesn’t get recycled in Liverpool is incinerated to make energy which goes back into the system, this still releases harmful gases into the environment. The only way to combat this is to reduce the amount of rubbish that we produce and increase the amount sent to be recycled.
“We’re already tackling the amount of waste both on our streets and in our homes and making our waste collection as sustainable as possible. Our successful solar bin pilot and eco-friendly waste wagons are both working towards reducing the number of emissions in collecting our waste. In the near future we’ll be introducing food waste collections and increasing the number of materials households can recycle too, but there’s still more that we can do together.
“We have a collective responsibility to make sure the actions we take now has a positive impact for our planet in the future.”
