Our Progress

Suffolk Waste Partnership continues to improve Waste & Recycling performance. The Suffolk Waste Partnership (SWP) is the group of Councils in Suffolk that collect and dispose of the County’s municipal waste. The SWP comprises of all seven District and Borough Councils (Waste Collection Authorities) as well as the County Council (Waste Disposal Authority). In 2003 the SWP adopted the Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy for Suffolk (the Strategy). This document is underpinned by a vision to work together to minimise the amount of waste generated and manage what is produced in ways that are environmentally, economically and socially sustainable up to 2020. Waste continues to be one of the most challenging areas facing local government today. The SWP has been highly successful in the 5 years since the adoption of the Strategy, attracting substantial sums of external funding to assist in the development of services. The resulting improvements have resulted levels of recycling and composting performance that are consistently amongst the best in the England. Between 1995 and 2007, Suffolk increased its household waste recycling level from 12.1% to 42.9%. In March 2006 the SWP was one of only two waste partnerships to be awarded “Beacon Status” by the Government in recognition of its success. This has given SWP the opportunity to share best practice with other local authorities in terms of achieving high recycling rates and effective partnership working. The SWP would like to thank the public and other stakeholders, for recycling more waste than ever and looks forward to working with them to tackle the challenge of further improvements. Strategy Documents The Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy for Suffolk sets out the strategic framework for the management of municipal waste and confirms the local authority’s commitment to working together. It was adopted in 2003 and covers the period until 2020. There was extensive consultation during its preparation prior to adoption and the Strategy states that it should be subject to regular review. The first review has been completed and resulted in an Addendum to the Strategy. This addresses developments in legislation and policy and takes account of the improvements in performance achieved by the partner authorities over the past 5 years. The Addendum has been adopted by each of Suffolk’s Local Authorities and published with a re-print of the Strategy, this can be downloaded below. Part of the review process has also resulted in the production of a set of Action Plans for 2007 to 2012 that highlight those actions that will be implemented and developed for this period and other activities which could be considered with the aim of reaching the targets and aspirations set in the Strategy. The Addendum also includes a set of joint Policy Statements and a summary of the consultation undertaken as part of the review. The Action Plans and Policy Statements will be reviewed, updated and published annually. These documents have been collated into Annexes A B & C of the Addendum, which are available to download below.  In Jan 2008 the results of the "Strategy review (1.27 MB)" were adopted (the Addendum) and published with a reprinted version of the Strategy.  In Jan 2008 the JMWMS Action Plans, Policy Statements and Consultation (1.07 MB) documents were published.  In October 2003 the adopted "Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy (1.2 MB)" was published along with a simple summary leaflet explaining the details of the strategy.  In March 2003 a "Consultation Draft Municipal Waste Management Strategy (1 MB)" was published for consultation. This took into account the Framework Document, independent review and the various comments received during consultation.  In November 2002 a "Best Practicable Environmental Option Analysis and Sustainability Review (493 KB)" of the Framework Document was published. This exercise was conducted by independent consultants.  In September 2002 a "Framework Document (545 KB)" was published for consultation. This set out the vision and context for preparation of the Strategy. Annual Reports  November 2009 - Annual Report 2008/09 of the Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy  December 2008 - Annual Report 2007/08 of the Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy  January 2007 - Annual Report 2005/06 of the Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy  June 2005 - Annual progress and monitoring report for the Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy (61 KB)  September 2004 - Annual progress and monitoring report for the Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy (41 KB).  December 2004 - How are we doing (1.9 MB).