The Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning and Transport (ADEPT), is calling on local authorities across England to complete a regular online survey on the impact of Covid-19 on waste services.
Responding to a request from Defra, ADEPT has led industry sector networks including the Local Authority Recycling Advisory committee (LARAC), the Local Government Association (LGA) and the National Association of Waste Disposal Officers (NAWDO) in creating the survey to gather for intelligence on the impact of waste services.
Ian Fielding, Chair of ADEPT’s Waste Group said: “At present, many local authorities are operating their waste and recycling services as normal, but we recognise that the situation may change quickly.
At first we will be asking for weekly data but we may increase the frequency as necessary to ensure we get a good picture of the status of waste services across the country
“We know that everyone is hard pressed, so the survey is simple and will only take a minute to complete. It has been designed to provide a snapshot and captures valuable information on a range of services, including domestic collections, recycling centres, transfers stations and energy from waste facilities, and records the level of impact on each.
“The data we collect will be invaluable to Defra and the waste sector as we manage the inevitable disruption to normal services that will be caused by Covid-19.
“At first we will be asking for weekly data but we may increase the frequency as necessary to ensure we get a good picture of the status of waste services across the country.”
Local authorities will receive emails shortly from the network groups providing details of how to access the survey and the information to be captured.