Westminster Labour is committed to keeping Westminster streets even cleaner. The current contract with Veolia delivers approximately one million waste and recycling collections every week, cleans 1250kms of pavements every day and empties 1,200 litter bins up to 25 times per day during the summer period. More than 700 employees and 200 vehicles (many of them electric powered) are deployed across each 24-hour period.

We collect approximately 180,000 tonnes of waste annually. Waste levels declined significantly during covid but have strongly recovered since then. The overall long-term trend is for reducing levels of waste as consumption patterns change (fewer newspapers, addressed mail etc) and the impact of measures by business to reduce packaging materials. 50% of total waste is generated by businesses, 40% by residents and 10% from street cleaning operations.

Recycling rates have increased since 2022, following the introduction of food waste recycling and the start of the Nights Recycling Service in the West End.

Waste Enforcement has seen a significant increase in the first half of this year when compared with last year. We have seen 4,221 waste enforcement actions (an increase of nearly 200%) so far with around a third of these being fixed penalty notices (FPNs) for fly tipping, failure to provide evidence of a waste carrier and contravention of existing notices.

As part of the preparation for the Waste Contract re-tender, we are launching a residents’ survey to understand residents’ views, experiences and perceptions on waste and recycling to improve Westminster’s waste services. It will be followed by a series of focus groups with residents to understand their experiences more deeply. We will also be out in the community, doing in-person engagement with the survey https://haveyoursaywastedisposal.commonplace.is/