Recycling survey
We're running a recycling survey to understand your views on our recycling and waste collections which closed at 23:59pm on Sunday 23 October 2022.
Over the years the residents of Waltham Forest have helped to increase the recycling rate to 32% of what is currently collected from their doorsteps. We’d like to thank you for working hard to recycle more.
Why we are running the survey
We have been operating the same system for collecting our bins in Waltham Forest for over 12 years and lots has changed in that time. For example you can now recycle 85% of what is thrown away from your household, using the wheelie bins and other services provided to you on your doorstep, and we want to make it as easy as possible for all residents to do just this.
To increase recycling and reduce waste the Council is considering making changes to waste collection arrangements. The majority of London Borough’s now have separate food waste collections and fortnightly black bin collections for those residents with their own wheelie bins.
We have researched four options and looked into the pros and cons of each one. Insight and research suggests that keeping weekly black bin collections does not encourage an increase in the amount of recycling collected. Research also suggests that keeping our weekly collections of recycling and introducing weekly food waste collections will help to increase the capture of additional recycling and food waste from those residents who have their own bins.
More information
We declared a Climate Emergency in April 2019. The overall aim of this is to change resident behaviours throughout Waltham Forest and reach a target of net-zero carbon emissions by 2030. Part of this means always exploring ways that we can promote or create opportunities for residents to live more climate-friendly lives, including recycling or reusing more.
Recycling habits have been changing for some time. As more products are becoming recyclable and residents become more and more accustomed to recycling or reusing products, the way we collect your waste will also inevitably change, both to accommodate previous change and allow future change.
The service will be spending the same amount of money on residents’ waste services, so no extra cost for residents, as we are looking to improve our service for our residents.
Our responsibility to our residents is to ensure their short-term and long-term contentment and security. Tackling the climate crisis through any possible means is a priority for us as a way to sustain resident happiness in the long-term.
More about our current waste and recycling collections
If you are unable to complete the online survey we have paper copies available for those who cannot access the online version. These paper copies will be available at each of our libraries from next week.