The West of England area (Bristol, Bath & North East Somerset, South Gloucestershire and North Somerset) suffers from a shortage of facilities for dealing with residual waste.

Residual waste is the rubbish which is not, or cannot be, recycled or composted. Until now it has been sent to landfill site elsewhere in the country.

This is a great waste of resources, as well as being damaging to the environment in a number of ways.

We want to reduce the amount of waste which is sent to landfill sites and by doing this councils – and council-tax payers - will reduce the risk of being fined under European laws.

A jointly produced Waste Strategy has been prepared which will affect the way we deal with waste for 20 years or more. The responses we received to the ‘Rubbish or Resource?’ Issues and Options consultation held in 2007, along with input from industry and environment professionals, have helped to shape the Joint Waste Strategy. To view the full length technical document follow this links (877.30 KB)

To view the non-technical summary of the Joint Waste Strategy click on the brochure cover image.

This website provides access to a wide range of background documents which support the Waste and Planning Strategy. For example there is a section dedicated to the concept of Zero Waste, an idea which is gathering support and which forms part of our vision for the future.

In parallel, a Development Plan is being drawn up which will assist in identifying suitable locations for any new waste facilities. The Development Plan takes into account not just the residual waste produced by householders, but also the much larger amount of waste produced by commerce and industry.

A ‘Preferred Options’ document about the planning strategy will be open to public consultation in November 2008.