Residents are being invited to share their views on options for future waste and recycling services in Westmorland and Furness.
Following on from the first-stage ‘Community Conversation’ engagement in November and December, Westmorland and Furness Council is now seeking people’s thoughts on options such as the sizes of containers, frequency of collections and full or partial subscription charges for green waste collections.
The results of this new stage of community consultation will be used to help finalise the design of the new-look services – with the first changes being rolled out before the end of the year.
Councillor Giles Archibald, Westmorland and Furness Council’s Cabinet Member for Climate, Biodiversity and Environmental Services, said: “We want to reduce waste, increase recycling, and provide improved services for our residents.
“To achieve this, we have said we want to create a new single waste and recycling service for the whole of Westmorland and Furness, a service that makes it easier and more convenient for people to recycle more and waste less, and that is more reliable, cost-effective and better for the environment.
“We want to involve our communities in helping us to design the new-look services and we have already had some excellent feedback from nearly 3,000 people during our ‘Community Conversation’ at the end of last year.
“This has helped us better understand your thoughts on the current waste and recycling collection services in your area – what you like, what you would like to change and what you’d like to see in the future.
“Thanks to that feedback we’ve been trialling different collection methods and containers, including a trial of ‘co-mingled’ recycling in Ulverston and a trial of wheelie bins in parts of the Eden area that currently have bags for general waste collections. Residents in those trial areas have been telling us how they have found the new arrangements and whether it is making it easier for them to recycle more and waste less.
“We have also started to roll-out the kerbside collection of beverage cartons (such as Tetrapak), starting in the Eden area, after feedback that you wanted to be able to recycle these types of items more easily.
“Now we have used all this information to come up with some options for how new collection services could look and we would love to hear people’s views on the options being considered.’’
For more information about the options complete the Options Consultation Survey.
The feedback from the Options Consultation will be considered alongside independent assessment of factors such as how the options fit with national legislation, do they make services fairer, how would they impact the environment, whether they are sustainable and whether they could contribute to more efficient and cost-effective services.
For more information about the criteria being used in the assessment, what the changes would mean for collections in your area, a summary of results from the ‘Community Conversation’ engagement and answers to questions about the options being considered, see the dedicated website page on the Waste and Recycling Options Consultation.
Councillors will make a final decision on the new-look services later this year, with the first changes being rolled out by the end of 2025.
Councillor Archibald continued: “Your opinions and views really matter to us.
“We have been listening to your feedback and this has been invaluable in helping us devise trials and pilot schemes to ensure we get plenty of input from our communities as we design these options.
“We are very grateful to everyone who tells us what they think about the proposed changes by completing the Options Consultation survey.
"Your views will be helping to shape the future of waste and recycling services for the whole of Westmorland and Furness.’’
- Paper copies of the survey will be available in the receptions of the council’s main public buildings at Barrow Town Hall, Kendal Town Hall and Voreda House, Penrith, as well as council libraries
- The survey opened today, 14 May 2025, and will run for eight weeks