Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy

The Waste Strategy outlines Surrey's preferred method of dealing with the waste that is collected across all 11 districts and boroughs. It replaces the Surrey Waste Local Plan of 1997 and will cover the period from 2006 - 2025.

Planning for waste management in Surrey

The Surrey Local Government Association (SLGA), made up of all councils in the county, has been responsible for the creation of a joint waste strategy called the Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy (JMWMS). The joint strategy is a long-term solution for dealing with waste in Surrey, with a strong emphasis on reducing waste and increasing recycling rates.

The waste strategy dictates that the way the county deals with waste must be sustainable, as well as allowing the county to meet national and EU requirements for waste management.

Methods of dealing with waste

600,000 tonnes of waste is created by households in Surrey every year.

However we deal with our household waste, it must be environmentally and financially sustainable. Landfill will continue to be an option used by the county, but with landfill space running out we need to look at other options.

The County Council extensively examined the range of technologies for dealing with waste, including EfW, and Mechanical Biological Treatment (MBT) together with EfW.

It was felt that the second option would be more expensive for local taxpayers and provide no significant difference to the County Council's other goals - like the level of recycling, or reducing the amount of waste sent to landfill.

EfW technology is currently considered by SCC to be the most deliverable and reliable means of treating the leftover household waste after minimising the amount of waste produced, and recycling as much as possible.

Click here for more information about SCC's Waste Strategy .