Limiting Landfill In Thurrock
Report of public consultation findings
Executive summary
- In January 2008, ngage - www.ngagethurrock.org.uk - were commissioned by Thurrock Council's Waste and Recycling Department to administer the 'Limiting Landfill in Thurrock' consultation on their behalf.
- The consultation took place between 28 January 2008 and 21 April 2008.
- A selection of methods were used to ensure that there was a greater opportunity for residents in Thurrock to take part in this consultation.
- Over all, a total of 6336 residents in the borough have responded to this consultation from the postal and door stepping opportunities combined. This has been one of the highest responses to date for a Thurrock consultation. Therefore results can be stated with a high degree of statistical confidence and represent the opinions of a high percentage of Thurrock people.
- Statistically the figures shown with the ngage Executive Summary are those analysed from the postal part of the consultation. The entire door stepping data analysis is contained within the Waste Watch - www.wastewatch.org.uk - Executive Summary (report below).
- (90%) of respondents claim to have a wheeled bin. The majority of respondents claim to 'always' recycle. The most frequently recycled materials are paper (93%) and cardboard (90%), followed by glass bottles/jars (89%) and plastic bottles (88%). Only (84%) of respondents recycle tins and cans and garden waste was the least recycled material at only (72%).
- In total, we received 6931 responses when asked what would make recycling easier. This was due to some respondents ticking more then one option. The majority of respondents favoured wheeled bins for recycling at (48%). More recycling boxes came in at only (14%). (12%) of respondents felt that more information about recycling was needed and only (9%) of respondents favoured a Re-use and Recycling centre in the West of Thurrock.
- The majority of respondents (41%) claimed that their property would accommodate 2 extra wheeled bins. This was slightly higher then those respondents (39%) who claimed that their property could accommodate 1 extra wheeled bin. (17%) of respondents said they could not accommodate extra wheeled bins and (3%) of respondents did not answer the question.
- When asked if respondents would like extra recyclable materials collected from the kerbside, there were 7967 responses to this question. This was due to respondents choosing more then one material option. (40%) of respondents chose all plastics, followed by Kitchen waste and textiles at a considerably lower (21%) each.
- Only (43%) of residents said that they would be willing to pay extra council tax to increase recycling above the current levels. (19%) of respondents were willing to pay an extra £10 per year, only (11%) were willing to pay an extra £25 per year. Just over half of the respondents (52%) stated that they would not be willing to extra council tax.
- Only (38%) of respondents claimed that they compost at home.
- When asked if respondents supported the principle of using waste to generate heat and power, (92%) stated that they did. However some residents stated that more information would be needed in order to answer the question.
- Out of the 485 responses we received on the 4 recycling options, (48%) were support of Option 1. Less favourable was Option 2 at only (19%). Option three and four were the least favourable at only (14%) of respondents choosing these options. In some case residents chose two options, these were identified as option (1 & 2) and option (3 & 4).
- The highest response rates came from the SS17 (26%) and RM16 (24%) postcode areas. Only 19 responses were received from the Purfleet area (RM19).
- (51%) respondents chose not to leave a comment once they had completed the questionnaire.
- One of the most common concerns raised for residents was the litter that was left after the kerbside collection.
- Some respondents still reinforced via the further comment section that they supported the principle of using recycling bins instead of boxes.
Full reports
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