North London Waste Authority is the statutory waste disposal authority for the seven north London Boroughs of Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Hackney, Haringey, Islington, and Waltham Forest. We arrange materials collected for recycling by most of our boroughs to be sorted and recycled, transport and dispose of all “residual waste” (i.e., rubbish/black bag waste) collected by our boroughs, arrange for reuse and recycling centres to operate, and plan for the infrastructure and contracts needed to provide long-term high-quality recycling and waste services.
All seven of our constituent boroughs have declared climate emergencies and are committed to environmental sustainability. The local manifestos for the parties which won or retained control of our constituent boroughs all included pledges to reduce waste and enable more recycling.
Our priority is to reduce waste, which saves money for councils and preserves resources for future generations. By encouraging people to rethink, reduce and reuse, and campaigning for changes from central government and industry, we can help to reduce consumption-based emissions in the face of a climate emergency. Our plan to reduce residual waste is about engaging residents and businesses to enable behaviour change, and campaigning for policy changes from central government and industry.
Our resident-focused work focuses on supporting people to think about their choices when purchasing or consuming products and encourages reuse, repair and sharing. We want to help people understand the journey of our stuff and the value of the resources that go into producing and disposing of it. There are opportunities to prevent everyday items becoming waste and our work will highlight the actions that can be taken to extend the life of products, consider how we consume and thereby extract the true value of them, and ultimately reduce the burden on our finite resources.
This plan was developed through collaboration with residents, environmental specialists, borough staff, councillors, and campaigners. We held engagement sessions, meetings, and conversations to provide insight into local priorities and identify where our activities can support partners to achieve shared ambitions. There is a clear interest to effect change in north London and influence the national agenda to reduce waste, and our plan allows flexibility to ensure that the work remains meaningful.
North London is made up of diverse and thriving communities, which presents a wealth of opportunities to deliver this activity in conjunction with a range of stakeholders. Our plan is designed to succeed through collaboration, and priorities have been set that have importance to north London residents and sector stakeholders. We are always looking for potential collaborations and are keen to know of and work with those who have the mutual ambition to reduce waste and deliver pioneering approaches to achieve this common goal.
The plan is developed to set out our approach to working from Autumn 2022 to mid-2025. This provides us with adequate time to organise activities effectively and allow us to be focussed on practical issues which make an immediate impact. The timeframe and approach give us the agility to be able to respond to new issues and changing priorities in the seven boroughs and the wider waste sector. It will be delivered whilst the next North London Joint Waste Strategy, owned by the constituent boroughs and NLWA, is being developed. The strategy will set out the strategic approach to waste disposal and recycling for all seven boroughs and provide the framework for future waste prevention activity. This plan and stakeholder engagement carried out to develop it will inform the strategy.
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