A blueprint to slash carbon emissions from waste is being endorsed by local authorities across Liverpool City Region.
Reimagining the way the city reduces waste and manages recycling has been a major priority, which has resulted in a strategy being developed for the whole region.
This strategy is now in the process of going through the approvals process in Wirral, Halton, Sefton, Knowsley and St Helens.
Collecting, transporting and disposing of waste costs Liverpool taxpayers over £36 million a year and figures from 2019 show it contributes seven per cent to the city’s total carbon emissions.
The document sets out a number of priorities:
1: Accelerating actions to reduce carbon emissions
2: Improving community-based networks to reuse items
3: Introducing community composting
4: Using waste as a resource to deliver social value
The immediate priority is tackling food waste, which accounts for around 40 per cent of the material in bins across the city region and is a significant source of carbon emissions.
A group has been set up with the aim of:
- Introducing food waste collections as soon as possible
- Educating households to reduce the amount of produce that is thrown out
- Reducing food poverty by preventing waste collection
- Ensuring residents have access to home or community composting
Other proposals include:
- Developing a circular economy to eliminate unnecessary waste by keeping products in use
- Establishing a reuse hub to promote reuse and repair activities
- Collecting more materials in recycling bins
- Introducing mobile and localised Household Waste Recycling Centres
- Expanding educational and behavioural change activity
- Optimising waste collection rounds across council boundaries
- Purchasing zero-emission waste vehicles
- Reducing waste crime such as fly tipping
The Liverpool City Region Zero Waste Framework was approved in Liverpool in January, has been adopted by Wirral and is going to other Councils for approval shortly.
For more information about zero waste visit https://www.zerowastelcr.com/
