Ipswich Borough Council’s waste team is celebrating winning the Best Practice in Garden Waste award at the Better Waste Services Live: Garden Waste 2024 event held earlier this month.
Organised by PermiServ, the event on 2 July gave local authorities the opportunity to share knowledge and success stories, and drive progress within garden waste.
The award recognises the Council’s work to reduce contamination in its garden waste service as well as celebrating the way the Council uses the data it collects to help educate residents on bin usage, and to make continuous internal improvements.
The fortnightly service which collected 8,791 tonnes of waste in 2023/24 was also commended for the team’s work towards improving service levels in a seasonal and changeable arena, with a total of 49,859 brown bins in the borough.
The Council’s Make it Grow with DiGBY competition which invites individuals and groups to submit creative entries to win a free bag of compost was also acknowledged for strengthening the Council’s relationship with residents and to encourage more people to learn about disposing of their waste correctly and the benefits of composting.
Councillor Phil Smart, Ipswich Borough Council Portfolio Holder for Environment and Transport, says:
“We are proud that our hardworking team responsible for our garden waste service has been recognised for their work in ensuring our residents receive the highest standards of service.
Reducing contamination in our brown bin service has been a key focus for the team, so we’re pleased to see that the recycling rates of our waste composted is at a record high.
We hope that as we continue to engage with residents, schools, and community groups we can continue to see reduced rates of contamination across our waste collections, helping everyone to make a difference to the planet.”
Ipswich Borough Council was personally selected by Catherine Cook, chair of LARAC (The Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee) for “addressing contamination (which is often a forgotten element in regards to garden waste) as well as ensuring their crews were held accountable for missed bins. They have a strong educational aspect to their service involving schools and promoting hashtag #composting.”
Ed Bastow, Managing Director, Material Change adds:
“We are delighted to work with Ipswich Borough Council and Suffolk County Council and provide recycling services for their garden waste collections. This ‘Dig Deep and Grow’ programme demonstrates the success that community involvement and education have on the closed loop garden waste recycling process. The younger generation often points the way to more sustainable behaviour to protect the environment they will inherit, and we look forward to seeing what I am sure will be some great ideas from local schools and community groups.”
