Delivering Waste Efficiencies in the East Midlands

The seventh in a series of regional waste reviews, ‘Delivering Waste Efficiencies in the East Midlands,’ was recently published. John Enright, waste specialist, annually conducts research on a different region in England, focusing on areas where more than £8 million pounds per annum in savings have been achieved. He co-authored this report with Dr Jane Beasley.

The research showed that delivering services has become increasingly difficult for local authorities. The East Midlands has achieved a recycling rate of 45.9% in 2016/17; higher than the national average of 43.7% for England. One local authority, South Northamptonshire District Council, achieved a rate of 61.40%. The report found that authorities are achieving efficiency savings through partnership working and joint-service delivery, capacity changes for residual waste, joint procurement, introduction of charging for services, and in-house service delivery, among other factors.

Partnerships can save costs. One of the report’s key takeaways was: “expanding established shared services to provide services for other public sector partners in a locality is a useful way to generate income and ensure efficiencies through greater economies of scale”. The set up and integration costs for merging services proved to be modest, with an under two-year payback period for all shared services analysed. In addition, shared services have achieved the same or better levels of performance at lower cost. 

To read the report, please click here

To learn more about Local Partnerships’ waste programme, please click here

Upcoming events

The annual LGA conference is now eight short weeks away. Local Partnerships is delighted to be at the conference. Please visit us at stand C9.

The annual Public Sector Show is one of the UK’s largest public sector events. The conference aims to “drive better public services through collaboration and solutions”. This year’s show has four key themes: digital and technology; finance and corporate; estates and infrastructure; and workforce and leadership.

Local Partnerships is delighted to support and participate in the conference. Strategic Director Kevin Jones will participate on the ‘Delivering Local Transport’ panel and Simon Bandy will chair the Assets & Estates theatre throughout the day, which will cover topics such as estate rationalisation, local housing, energy efficiency and sustainability, the co-location and integration of public services, and guaranteeing return on investment from property. Attendance is free for the public sector but spaces are limited. To reserve your place please click here.