Did you know (see new report) that in 2022-23, 54.0% of the waste we threw away was turned into something new, whether it was clothing, energy, fertiliser or new packaging – way above the England average of just 41.7%.
What’s more we’ve reduced the rubbish we throw away by 5.3% and the proportion of waste sent to landfill dropped to 4.4%, which means that 95.6% of ourwaste was repurposed once collected. If it wasn’t recycled or landfilled, it was turned into energy (36.7% of waste).
However, according to the report, there is more to be done. The county is seeing too much contamination, when too many items that can’t be recycled are found in recycling trucks causing the whole truckload, including legitimately recyclable material, to be rejected for recycling. And while it’s good that we’re producing less waste, the county comes in 16th out of 29 similar waste disposal authorities in England so can improve.
To help make our country as clean as we can we need to further reduce what we throw away by recycling more and making sure that what we put out for recycling can be recycled. The Surrey Environment Partnership (SEP) has lots of resources and advice to help you with that:
- Sign up to Rethink Waste. It’s a great and free scheme that thousands of Surrey households are already taking part in. It can help you reduce what you throw away while earning points you can use to donate to charities and schools or to enter prize draws.
- Recycle your food waste. Most households in Surrey already do so if yours doesn’t, why not join them?
- Get to know the Surrey Recycles search tool and app. Just type in your postcode and an item and it will tell you the best thing to do with it where you live.
- To make sure you get the right bin every time, check out SEP’s five quick wins for your bins.
