The overwhelming message we heard from local people is that they love living in this pleasant, rural district and value the countryside around them. Yet they also want to see more done to keep the district in tip top condition – that’s why we launched the Green Heart of Essex campaign in 2010.

As part of that campaign, we put recycling at the top of our agenda, working hard to reduce the amount of waste taken to landfill sites. This year for the first time we managed to recycle more waste than we sent to landfill – an important landmark.

We also took an active role in responding to climate change and introduced a range of initiatives in relation to energy efficiency, sustainable development and reducing our own carbon footprint- there’s lots more to come.

Highlights from 2010/11

Keeping  the district cleaner…

Over 12 tonnes of rubbish cleared from our A roads.

Over 800 fly-tips cleared within 24 hours.

164 fixed penalty notices issued for littering; a huge increase on the previous year

Our cleaning hours extended in town centres to 8pm daily including weekends.

By improving our cleansing and litter picking standards, satisfaction levels increased from 49% in 2008 to 76% in March 2011.

..and greener

125,000 bulbs were given to parish and town councils to plant in their communities

Over £70,000 was awarded to community-led groups for local Green Heart projects.

We created 30 more allotments so more individuals and families in the district can ‘grow their own’.

Increase recycling, re-use and composting to 53% .

Through our Climate Change Agenda we cut our carbon footprint by 6.3%.