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Climate emergency strategy

A fleet of waste vehicles at Biffa

Theme 3: Consumer choices and waste

Leicester City Council will:
  • Raise public awareness of the climate impact of buying and disposing of products and ways to reduce that impact, particularly for food, electrical products and clothes
  • Continue to use locally sourced ingredients in school meals to reduce emissions from food miles and introduce more plant-based meals
  • Increase local growing of food and raise awareness of the impact of air-freighted food
  • Support reuse and repair schemes for household items
  • Work with Biffa to increase participation in recycling, including the orange bag scheme and garden waste service
  • Explore opportunities to reduce emissions and air pollution from the collection and processing of Leicester’s household waste in partnership with Biffa
  • Improve household waste services in line with government’s new Resources and Waste Strategy, including a major increase in recycling
  • Ensure that land use policies align with the need for facilities to reuse, recycle and compost food waste
  • Lobby central government to provide stronger incentives for reuse and repair of products and improve the market for recyclable materials particularly plastics

Over the last three years almost 700 tonnes of items have been diverted from landfill through a Reuse shop set up in Leicester with local charity LOROS.

Children and adults posing with collected rubbish after a clean up campaign

Actions for 2020-2023 include:

  • Deliver the Metal Matters communications campaign to increase the volume of recyclable metals being placed in the orange recycling bags and communal bins
  • Promote home composting by continuing to provide discounted compost bins to residents
  • Extend and develop the Reuse shop
  • Implement a recycling improvement project for flats
  • Develop a multi-stream media campaign to encourage residents to put the right waste in the right bin
  • Produce a new waste and recycling strategy for the city
  • Love your clothes is a new online campaign to raise awareness of sustainable clothing, including information about buying clothes, care and repair, upcycling, and recycling of garments
  • Install free drinking water refill points across the city
  • Develop and implement a communications and engagement plan for the Food for Life award
  • Create a strategy and project plan for school meals that covers food and packaging waste and opportunities for more plant-based meals
Theme 2 Travel and Transport Theme 4 At work