140th anniversary blog series - How local services can lead the circular economy
We are celebrating ADEPT's 140th anniversary year by showcasing the voices of past and present ADEPT Presidents, reflecting on the evolution of place leadership and exploring the challenges, innovations and aspirations shaping the future of the sector.
In her essay Paula Hewitt, past president of ADEPT (2021/2022), Chair of the Thames Regional Flood and Coastal Committee and past chair of the South West Infrastructure Partnership explores how local services can lead the circular economy.
When I first became involved with ADEPT, I was a Director at Somerset County Council. I had responsibility for a wide range of Place Services at Somerset County Council, but my passion was environmental services, resulting in me chairing the ADEPT Environment Board.
Since leaving local government, I have remained active in the environment sector as Independent Chair of the Thames Regional Flood and Coastal Committee and through the South West Infrastructure Partnership. For me, ADEPT was a fantastic network of professionals where I could share ideas and learn from others.
‘Place’ means to me ‘communities and all the services that communities collectively need to function well’ - economy, waste, transport, natural environment, planning and water management, to name a few.
Looking back, one of the moments I’m most proud of in terms of place leadership was how Somerset Council and our partners responded to the devastating floods of 2014. It was a reminder that effective place leadership is about bringing people, communities, and services together including in times of intense pressure - and then learning from those experiences to build long-term resilience.
That same mindset underpins how we’ve approached waste and the circular economy: thinking systemically, planning for the future and building partnerships that last.
The evolution of waste management
When I joined local government in 1991, I worked in a ‘two-tier’ area where household waste was collected in black bags by district councils and the county council was responsible for disposal. There was no attempt to separate out recyclables and all disposal was to landfill. Over my career, there has been a huge transformation to more integrated collection and disposal services - and a shift in seeing waste as a resource.
I recall the introduction of wheelie bins and then recyclables being separated from residual waste for treatment and recycling. Very little waste is now landfilled and ‘Energy from Waste’ plants have become much more widespread alongside plants to digest our food waste. Another shift has been the move away from weekly residual waste collections, as more and more waste is recycled.
In Somerset, I was involved in creating a waste partnership of all the district councils and the county council. This provided an integrated waste service and introduced a weekly kerbside sorted recyclable collection including for food waste. This enabled us to move to fortnightly residual waste collection and then to three weekly collections, with widespread community support. I still remember the outrage from Eric Pickles when he was the Secretary of State that every household would not get their rubbish collected every week – how things have changed!
Another change has been an increased emphasis on recycling at Household Waste Disposal Sites or ‘tips’ as they used to be called. These are increasingly referred to as Household Recycling Sites. On the journey we have seen many changes some temporary and others reversed, including some authorities charging for entry to sites or to dispose of some materials and some introducing permits as they struggled to manage their budgets.
During the Covid Pandemic there were some real challenges in continuing to provide a waste service whilst protecting the workforce. I loved the innovations that were put in place by our contractors - it was really clear that residents really appreciated that the service continued to operate.
There have been many legislation and policy changes along the way, including the introduction of landfill tax and the move to more producer responsibility. I’m sure I’m not alone in recalling the ‘fridge mountains’ when legislation on CFCs was brought in. More change will come, perhaps relating to deposit return schemes?
Innovation and impact
The introduction of the waste hierarchy and the shift from seeing waste as something to be got rid of, to seeing it as a resource – and the resulting shift in public attitudes – has had a huge impact.
I knew this had really taken hold when we started to receive requests to expand the materials which could be recycled at the kerbside and when communities accepted three weekly residual waste collections as the way to fund offering a wider recycling service,
The transformation required is really a shift in mindset across the system - from producers (for example, of packaging), and residents, to the local authority and its contractors. It’s about maximising the value of the materials and applying the waste hierarchy of prevention, re-use, recycle, other recovery and - only after these options have been exhausted - disposal.
Changing resident behaviour takes time, but using ‘nudge theory’ can really help. We want recycling to be seen as the norm – when most people on a street recycle, new residents are more likely to do the same.
In Somerset, we ran a really successful education programme with primary schools. We found that the children took home the recycling message and encouraged their parents to recycle.
Throughout my career, financial pressures were a constant driver for innovation - the need to do more with less was an ongoing theme There was an ongoing requirement to innovate and re-engineer to deliver this. Being part of the ADEPT network was a great way of learning about how others were doing this and then applying this in my authority.
Future challenges
The market for plastic waste and its recycling in the UK is still underdeveloped. This continues to present challenges with ensuring plastic waste collected from householders is recycled and will require investment.
The government’s plans to make recycling more consistent across the country will have significant impacts for some areas, especially where contracts need to be amended.
Another ongoing challenge is improving the quality of recyclables collected - contamination due to poor sorting can still lead to whole loads being rejected.
Waste is one of a few service areas that is used by every household and is therefore a ‘doorstep issue’ for councillors – everyone has a view – good or bad!
As place leaders, we have a responsibility not just to manage services for today, but to think like good ancestors - ensuring that the decisions we make now leave things in a better state for future generations.
The next generation of place leaders will face new challenges, but my advice would be to stay connected to your communities, be bold in your innovation, and make full use of networks like ADEPT - for learning, for support, and for fun.
Further information
- Read the full collection of essays
- Find out more about our 140th anniversary
- Watch our 140th anniversary celebration film and animated timeline
Author
Paula Hewitt is a past president of ADEPT (2021/2022), Chair of the Thames Regional Flood and Coastal Committee and past chair of the South West Infrastructure Partnership.
