Waste and recycling

Each year, Woking Borough Council collects around 35,000 tonnes of waste. The Government has set all council's strict targets to increase the amount of waste we recycle and to continue to reduce the amount going to landfill, helping to protect our environment for the future.

The Landfill Directive was adopted in 1999 and requires a significant reduction in biodegradable waste sent to landfill - the target is to reduce this to 75% of the levels sent for landfill in 1995 by 2010.

Landfill Tax is regulated by HM Customs and Revenues and is payable on waste that is disposed of at landfills. The Finance Act and Landfill Tax Regulation 1996 has been designed as a disincentive by charging for each tonne of all waste disposed to landfill - in 2008 it cost £32 per tonne and this is set to increase by £8 per tonne each year until 2013.

In order to try and meet the Landfill Directive target and reduce the financial impact of sending waste to landfill, Surrey has been given strict limits, based on central Government figures on how much waste to send to landfill - the penalty for going over this limit is a staggering £150 per tonne!

Legislations and the fact that landfill space is rapidly running out illustrates that recycling is not only environmentally beneficial it's also financially beneficial for residents.

Since the implementation of the alternate weekly waste collection scheme in 2003, residents of Woking Borough have more than doubled the amount of waste sent for recycling from 19% to over 44% in 2008/09. This has been achieved by the residents of Woking continuing to support the alternate weekly wheeled bin collection service and recycle as much as possible.