Braintree District Council is working with the other local authorities in Essex to agree a "Joint Municipal Waste Strategy" for the County.

The draft Waste Strategy has been agreed by  Essex County Council which is responsible for waste disposal and the 12 District and Borough Councils responsible for collecting municipal waste.

The strategy is now being finalised following extensive public consultation.  The completed document will steer and inform the important decisions about the future management of waste in Essex.

The basic approach of the draft Waste Strategy is to reduce the amount of waste we produce; to reuse, recycle and compost more of it and send less of it to landfill sites.  We will do this by:

- Encouraging residents to create less rubbish by shopping sensibly to avoid packaging and buying long lasting goods which can be repaired or re-used rather than thrown away.

- Providing kerbside recycling services and recycling sites where residents can take waste for recycling.

- Increasing the amount of food waste that we compost.

- Using new technology to sort out any remaining material in residual waste that can be recovered for recycling.

- Using new bio-treatment technology to replace or reduce reliance on landfill.

To find out more, read the full draft document or look at the executive summary.  More details can also be seen on the Essex County Council web site.