Your results: Waste, Recycling and Clean Streets in Westminster Consultation

Thank you for taking part in Westminster City Council's Waste and Recycling Research. We will use the data gathered in this research to inform Westminster’s new Waste Strategy. Please see the below summary of our research.

Our goals

• To better understand what residents and businesses do with their recycling and waste.
• To listen to views on the current service from residents, businesses and managing agents.
• To understand what we can do together in the future to jointly improve our environment.

Methodology

• A survey was made launched  for residents and businesses. Online platforms (such as e-newsletters) and in-person events around Westminster were used to encourage participation.
•  A selection of residents and businesses who opted in to take part in the research were invited to interviews and focus groups (residents only).
• Managing agents were invited to focus groups from a council database.

Results - Residents

Mixed Recycling and Food Waste

• The majority (92%) of residents value recycling and 77% believe it to be an impactful step toward combating climate change.
• The items that get put in the mixed recycling most are paper and cardboard (77%) and plastic bottles (74%).
• 52% people say they use their food waste service.

Resident Purchasing Decisions

• Most consumption comes from supermarkets and local markets (66%) and from ordering online and deliveries (36%).
• When buying food products people value general quality (58%), nutritional value (46%), and price (35%), with environmental considerations like longest use- by date and best-before dates (28%), local sourcing (15%) and how the product is packed (12%), being less popular.
• 56% have reused and 53% have repaired items instead of throwing them away. Additionally, 29% have bought and or sold items from an online reuse platform.

Westminster’s Streets Cleanliness

• The majority of residents interviewed are very satisfied with street cleanliness however, fly-tipping remains a concern.
• 59% of survey respondents agree that fly-tipping (i.e. illegal dumping of waste / rubbish/ broken furniture/ dirty mattresses etc.) is a concern in their local area.
• However, 42% of them agree that it is acceptable to leave reusable items out on the street for people to take, despite that this constitutes fly-tipping.
• You can find out more about fly-tipping and how to report it here: Report fly tipping | Westminster City Council

Future Recommendations

Residents wanted:

• Better communication about where waste and recycling go and what to put in their mixed recycling.
• More opportunities to recycle and reuse. This included more recycling collections and reuse events. We currently hold a range of including Community Mobile Recycling Centre Days, repair events and swap shops. You can find out about the next event in your area here: Recycling events in Westminster | Westminster City Council
• More feedback if they reported fly-tipping through the Report It app.