The Essex Waste Partnership (EWP) work together to ensure cost-efficient and sustainable household waste management is delivered across Essex. Essex County Council (ECC) are the Waste Disposal Authority (WDA), this includes looking after the majority of recycling centres in Essex. The district, city and borough councils are the Waste Collection Authorities (WCAs), responsible for services such as kerbside collections.
The members of the EWP are:
Work is currently being carried out to renew and refresh the Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy (JMWMS).
The aim of the Waste Strategy and the EWP is to work together to create, promote or support campaigns that avoid or reduces waste, improve or maximises recycling and composting and minimise the environmental impacts of managing, treating and disposing of waste in Essex.
The work of the EWP is promoted through the Love Essex umbrella brand, with a mission statement “To work in partnership to deliver better results for residents through cost effective campaigns and services. An umbrella brand will provide consistent messages to encourage public involvement and inspire behaviour change.”
There are a wide variety of campaigns and initiatives that are either supported, promoted or created under Love Essex in order to meet the aims of the Waste Strategy and the EWP. This includes working with and supporting local organisations and community-led initiatives, and promoting national campaigns such as Love Food Hate Waste and Love Your Clothes. We also create campaigns and tools such as The Essex Plastic Pledge, Essex Cloth Nappy Incentive, home composting education and subsidy, and a search function that helps residents find out the most environmentally friendly way to pass on their unwanted items that’s also local to them. We also link with the BLUEPRINT to a Circular Economy.
Each year over 700,000 tonnes of waste are thrown away by households in Essex, about half a tonne for each resident, with 56% of waste recycled. With around 1.5 million residents in Essex and the number of households in Essex set to increase in the next 20 years, the waste produced in Essex is also set to rise. Landfill, gate fee tax and other costs mean that throwing waste away is costing around £155 per tonne.