The Dorset Waste Partnership (DWP) was formed back in 2011, bringing together all seven councils within the shire county of Dorset at the time. This included the waste disposal authority – the county council - and six waste collection authorities; Dorset’s borough and district councils.
The county council acted as the host authority of the DWP, employing staff and providing support services such as HR, finance, procurement, IT, communications and customer service.
From 1 April 2020, the Dorset Waste partnership is no longer being used as a name and brand. All DWP-related assets and resources (including employees) now come under Dorset Council's Waste Services team.
Dorset Council and waste services
All the sovereign councils that made up our partnership ceased to exist from 1 April 2019. Waste is now an executive function of the two new unitary authorities in Dorset:
- Dorset Council
- Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council
The majority of DWP staff and assets have transferred to Dorset Council and will continue to deliver the same services as before. For a transitionary period of one year, staff supporting Christchurch have transferred to Dorset Council, and then onto Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council from 1 April 2020.
We are looking forward to continuing to work closely with BCP Council and forging closer ties to our neighbouring councils in the South West to find innovative solutions to common issues as such waste transfer and enforcement.
Services Dorset Council's Waste Services team is responsible for
- collection and disposal of household waste and recycling (the 'Recycle for Dorset' kerbside collection service)
- collection and disposal of garden waste for those who subscribe to the service
- mini recycling centres (bring banks) for items that can't be recycled at the kerbside
- household recycling centres (HRCs) - owned by Dorset Council, operated by a contractor
- commercial waste and recycling - for businesses that subscribe to our services
- street cleaning and litter - including investigation and enforcement
- education and campaigns
- Closed landfill sites - monitoring and maintenance
We implemented the kerbside service in five stages, starting in October 2012 and completed in October 2015, rolling out to 203,000 households over three years. It was a very challenging timetable and executed with little additional resource. The roll-out areas were not based on district boundaries; they were chosen to provide the most efficient and cost-effective service as possible.
The DWP was created to deliver a 'whole system' approach, joining together the waste collection and disposal functions to provide services more efficiently across council boundaries. All partners agreed to adopt a single collection service, Recycle for Dorset, to replace the previous 12 different systems.
The Recycle for Dorset kerbside waste collection service
The standard Recycle for Dorset service consists of:
- a weekly collection of food waste using a 23-litre bin and 7-litre kitchen caddy
- a fortnightly collection of recycling using a 240-litre wheelie bin, a box for glass and a reusable bag for batteries
- a fortnightly collection of rubbish using a 140-litre wheelie bin
Bag and box service
Households unable to use wheelie bins receive an equivalent 'bag and box' service using boxes for recycling and an annual supply of blue authorised sacks for rubbish.
See the Recycle for Dorset Service Policy.