We are interested in the waste your company produces and what currently happens to that waste - whether you are a big waste producer or not!

In delivery of this survey, companies throughout the region will be selected at random, contacted by phone and invited to take part. The survey itself will be delivered via face-to-face interviews at your site using trained independent surveyors. This webpage is designed to help companies invited to take part in the survey, understand what the survey entails, why it is being carried out, and how the data collected will be used.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is this survey being carried out?

This data is required to help assess the progress in diverting waste from landfill in the Region, and the move to recycling and reuse, and also to help identify market gaps and the need for new waste recycling or treatment facilities. The information collected in this survey will be used to project what types and size of new waste facilities will be required for the future management of commercial and industrial wastes in the North West and to help plan facilities regionally and support planning applications locally. This survey could well help to provide you with local waste management facilities to help you manage your waste in a more sustainable manner, and reduce your waste costs.

Who is doing this survey?

This survey is being carried out by trained independent surveyors who are delivering this survey on behalf of and contractors to the local authorities of the North West and 4NW (formerly the regional assembly). Introductory letters from some of these bodies are given in "Linked Doucments" below. The surveyors are not Council employees and cannot deal with other Council matters.

How was I selected?

We need to survey 1,000 commercial or industrial companies. To be able to give results which are statistically valid, companies who take part in this survey are selected completely at random, based upon their size and type of business. You have therefore been randomly selected from basic contact data provided by the Office of National Statistics.

What does the survey entail?

We need to collect basic information about what waste you produce, quantified as much as possible (ie. in tonnes), and what happens to that waste. To be able to aggregate this data properly, we will also need to check the size of your company against the data we have, and your type of business. To achieve this, a surveyor will visit your site at a mutually agreed time and date, to conduct a survey interview and take a short tour of your facilities, to spot any materials which you may not consider waste, or are insignificant to you but important to the survey. The surveyor will enter this data on a laptop on site.

Will my confidentiality be compromised?

No. We take Data Protection and Commercial Confidentiality very seriously. Your company details will only be used by the personnel booking the visits and those carrying out the survey. Information collected from you will only be used for the purpose of this survey, and will be aggregated so that it will not be possible to identify individual company data. The survey will culminate in an analysis at regional and national level, and only aggregated data will be used for this.

Will my data be passed on to my Local Authority, the Environment Agency or other Government Agencies for any other purpose?

No. Your data will only be used for the purpose of this survey. It will be kept secure and will not be passed on to anybody not connected with delivering the survey. The independent surveyors used are not government employees, they are not interested in how you run your operations or looking for infringements of waste legislation, and are not permitted to use the data they collect for any other reason than to deliver the survey. Company or waste data or observations made during the survey visit, will not be forwarded to or used by any Government Agency.

What is expected of me?

If you prepare for the visit of the surveyor, then he/she will be able to complete their survey in an effective and timely manner, and leave you to get on with your real work! If you are able to collect appropriate consignment notes, transfer notes or invoices or other documents which evidence waste quantities, this would be very useful. Before the survey we will supply a hard copy of the survey form. If you look through this, this should help you identify any other information you may need to complete the survey.

How long will the survey take?

This will depend on your company’s size and complexity. We aim to have most surveys complete within half an hour, for larger sites it may take longer than this.

Where can I find out more?

Check our website at www.wastesurvey.com, email us at info@wastesurvey.com, or call Jill Sykes on 01274699400.

Linked Documents

Click on the title of the following supporting documents to view and download (Adobe Acrobat Reader required)

North West C&I Waste Arisings Survey 2009 - Frequently Asked Questions

North West C&I Waste Arisings Survey 2009 - Sample Questionnaire

North West C&I Waste Arisings Survey 2009 - Key Points for Preparation

Introductory Letter 4NW

Introductory Letter Lancashire County Council

The Previous NW Waste Arisings Survey

The last survey of commercial and industrial (C&I) waste arisings carried out in the North West region was delivered by Urban Mines in 2006-7 on behalf of the North West Regional Technical Advisory Board.

The statistically valid survey of 981 companies, when grossed up to estimate arisings for the whole region, revealed:

• 7,532,289 total tonnes arising in the region of which:
• 27% were non-metallic wastes such as plastics, paper and other potentially recyclable materials, 24% of mixed wastes, and 19% of chemical wastes.
• The results also showed that at that time 47% of total wastes were recycled in the region, but that at least 29% was still landfilled.
• The work also revealed that there was a potential of 3.27 million tonnes of waste which could be recycled.

This new survey is intended to repeat the 2006 survey using similar methodology so that trends can be identified and progress towards more sustainable methods of waste re-use and disposal measured.

The full report for this work can be obtained by following the link below, or by clicking here. 

Survey Delivery

This survey is being delivered by a consortium of specialist environmental consultancies Urban Mines Ltd, Groundwork Pennine Lancashire and Black & Veatch.

Links

Links to other recent C&I arisings Surveys:

Principles

This survey has been commissioned and funded by NWDA, 4NW, Envirolink NW and local authorities in the North West Region:

Project Report

This project is now completed. The final project report is available from the Environment Agency by clicking here