needed to move material up the waste hierarchy – a phase that has now been substantially completed. In 2012, however, with the progress and changes resulting from WRWA's major programme of capital development, it became apparent that the Policy should be reviewed.
A new joint high level policy document to guide future service provision and to clearly demonstrate continued partnership working was therefore drafted, with the assistance of the four boroughs, and the new Waste Policy was agreed in July 2013. This document sets out the agreed waste policy and defines the parameters within which waste will be managed within the Authority's area in a manner that will:
The full Waste Management Policy document can be found on the Authority's website. The development of future European, National and Regional waste priorities and strategies are currently at various stages of development and consultation and a new ‘London Plan’ is due to be published by the Mayor of London for consultation in the autumn of 2017. New waste recycling targets are expected to be announced as part of that process and the Authority will also be carrying out its own in-depth report on recycling during the summer of 2017. It is hoped that the final outcome of all of this work could ultimately lead to the development of a new Joint Waste Strategy between the Authority and the constituent councils during 2018.
Through its Waste Management Policy and the letting of its Waste Management Services Agreement with Cory Environmental Ltd the Authority has been able to significantly increase the proportion of waste from within its area that is reused and recycled and all of its residual waste is now used to recover energy at the Belvedere EfW Facility, rather than going to landfill.
Following the Government’s waste hierarchy will generally lead to the most beneficial outcomes in terms of climate change and the overall reduction in the waste handled by WRWA (as shown in the graph in Section 7) has delivered the