Reuse, repair, and education are the focus of north London’s bold new 15-year waste strategy, alongside a demand for Government and industry to prevent unsustainable waste from being created in the first place.
The North London Joint Waste Strategy 2025–2040, adopted by Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Hackney, Haringey, Islington, and Waltham Forest with the North London Waste Authority (NLWA), sets out how two million residents will be supported through practical local initiatives, from community repair hubs and reuse shops to school workshops and green skills training.
The strategy also delivers a blunt message: unsustainable consumerism keeps creating waste faster than it can be reduced or even recycled. At present, producers face almost no consequences for flooding the market with short-lived, hard-to-recycle products, while council taxpayers must bear the costs of disposal and recycling. The strategy calls for national action to put responsibility for waste and pollution firmly on those who create it.
NLWA and the boroughs are urging Government to introduce design standards so goods last longer, can be affordably repaired, and that producers pay the full cost of disposing of and/or recycling every item they sell. The strategy makes further calls for the phase-out of non-recyclable materials, and for investment in British repair, reuse, recycling, and reprocessing capacity, so that resources are saved and recovered here rather than disposed of or exported overseas. Businesses would be encouraged to use these recycled resources to make products and packaging.
The strategy also asks Government to give local authorities the powers and resources needed to work with the public and businesses to ensure they recycle and dispose of waste appropriately.
At the local level, building on the success of the Reuse Shop at King’s Road Reuse and Recycling Centre (RRC) in Waltham Forest, the strategy aims to expand reuse and repair across north London’s extensive RRC network. Community groups and social enterprises will be supported to help residents fix, share or donate items such as furniture, textiles and electricals. The aim is to create green jobs and apprenticeships and reduce the cost of living for residents through affordable repair and reuse.
A major priority will be outreach: working with schools and colleges to embed waste education in the curriculum, making use of the brand-new facilities for teaching at EcoPark House, the off-grid community and visitor centre at Edmonton EcoPark. The new schools programme, co-developed with teachers for teachers, aims to increase environmental awareness and establish a culture of waste prevention within the schools that participate in the programme.
The North London Joint Waste Strategy 2025–2040, includes commitments to align household recycling services, roll out food recycling collections in line with national legislation, and publish annual delivery plans so residents can track progress.
NLWA and the boroughs will also call on Government to support the development of new metrics, which would enable reuse to be properly accounted for in national statistics and prioritised over recycling, in line with the waste hierarchy.
NLWA chair, Cllr Clyde Loakes MBE, welcomed the adoption of the strategy by all seven north London boroughs: “The strength of this strategy is its clear sense of purpose: to work together to make life better for all our residents by helping to make reuse and repair the easy, practical and affordable choice,“ Cllr Loakes said.
“At a national level, this is about fairness and accountability, ensuring that businesses are fully encouraged to prevent waste at source, so that far less damage is done to the environment. Why should council taxpayers have to foot the bill for dealing with mountains of unsustainable waste while businesses that continue to pollute make artificial profits?
“Government must incentivise businesses to design sustainable products, ban the most unsustainable materials, and foster a deep understanding in hearts and minds across the UK that the prevention of waste is in the national – and in all our – interests.”