Stoke Gifford WI’s Meeting With South Glos Council/Waste and Recycling Centre

Our President, Jo Janes, welcomed members and visitors to our WI meeting on Wednesday 2nd September 2026.

Our Speakers this evening were Kirsten Wilson and David Burliston from South Glos Council/Waste and Recycling who gave us an  interesting and very enlightening insight into what happens with our bin collection waste.

I am sure many of us have groaned when we have received yet another bin, box or bag to separate our waste into. However it seems we may not have fully appreciated how this helps our environment and our climate for future generations.

All of our general waste is disposed of in the UK and most of it goes to local “Energy-from-Waste” facilities where it is burnt to generate electricity. This Council’s team have managed to arrange that very little of our waste ends up in landfill, in fact only 1.5% and as a last resort. Every year South Glos/ waste and recycling carry out a study of the waste in black bins to find out what is being thrown away.

The results of the last audit found that 47% of waste in black bins could have been recycled from home. The average black bin in South Gloucestershire in 2025 contained the following: 19% food waste 28% recyclable items, 29% soft plastics, 24% non-recyclable waste.

Approximately one third of global greenhouse gases come from food production which is why it is so important to waste as little as possible. 70% of all food waste in the UK comes from households, which is more than double the amount wasted by supermarkets, restaurants, farms and factories.

Our food waste is sent to a processing plant in Avonmouth which is fed into an enclosed tank containing micro-organisms that break it down into biogas and biofertilisers. The biogas is used togenerate renewable energy. Some food waste cannot be avoided, like banana skins, tea bags and vegetable peelings but these are all perfect for home composting along with our garden waste. From our Council tax only £7.50 of every £100 goes to funding 4 Sort It recycling centres, recycling and black bin collections, and the disposal costs of waste.

Perhaps we should applaud South Glos Council Waste and Recycling team for recycling our waste, which was only 8% in 2004 but is now up to 58%.

Our next meeting will be on the7th October when we will be visited by a musical group called Revivalwho will be entertaining us with songs from the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s.

Visitors will always find a warm welcome at our WI Group which is held on the 1st Wednesday of the month in the Trust Hall, Stoke Gifford so please come along and join us.

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