A Zero Waste community starts with reorganisation

The opportunity is open to build a sustainable future 

Reorganisation is an opportunity. A door has now opened to allow with the organisation of Oxfordshire’s unitary councils. It is time to push forward with principles toward the future our residents want and our planet needs.

We are specifically interested in clear and executable approaches that will deliver on strategic promises made in the last two decades in Oxfordshire. For years we have seen climate emergencies declared by councils at all levels of government. In some cases, strategies are drafted, but then time and again little to no action is achieved.

Help us sort through the clutter in local plans and clean up supply chains for the future residents want in a way that conserves our precious resources, including waste. 

In the time since the local government reorganisation plans were released, we have been consulting with our community around the barriers and solutions they see to infrastructure which impacts climate resilience building. Cherwell Collective staff have attended consultations on these plans and developed a set of principles in response to gaps in the consultation process so far.

Here, we outline next the waste problem, principles related to good waste governance and a call to action for community members to be involved in the next steps of good waste policy making. 

Understanding the waste problem

Global supply chains extract resources for the planet to make the things we buy and use every day and as a result contribute to climate change. Every year we extract more and more resources than the planet can regenerate such that we will run out of resources in our lifetimes if we do not produce and waste less.

Experts around the globe agree that one of the most important changes communities can make is to adopt a circular economy such as the one described here by The Ellen MacArthur Foundation. 

Local authorities in Oxfordshire have expressed a desire to adopt more circular principles in their plans and strategies for over a decade. Most recently in 2025 Oxfordshire County Council specifically outlining the path to circularity for the county council’s operations.

Currently this plan is internally focused and doesn’t cover accountability for broader local waste policy. Determining accountability for waste streams has recently contributed to an illegal dumping and climate disaster in our very own village, inspiring us to take a stronger position on the waste problem locally. 

Working with local waste teams we are coming to a better understanding of immediate solutions to waste problems. For example, we understand that 25% of household waste headed to incinerators in one area of Oxfordshire is food, much of which is still edible.

While Oxfordshire is recognised as a groundbreaking area for reducing food waste, we still must understand what  barriers exist for people to make use of waste streams and infrastructure. Further, we need local plans to show a clear path to removing barriers to use of infrastructure intended to solve these systemic problems. 

Our core staff at Cherwell Collective along with local policy scholars and professionals met to discuss the upcoming local government reorganisation plans, specifically through the lens of better waste policy. We highlighted the need for community-led and business-led strategies, emphasising sustainable waste strategies, business waste solutions, and community engagement.

Specific concerns were raised about the efficiency of the proposals, the potential for privatisation, and the need for clear accountability and practical measures to address waste issues. As a result of this meeting we drafted a set of five core principles and associated criteria which we think can be used to assess proposals and plans moving forward. 

Principles for Good Waste Policy

In a meeting on 24 March 2026, the Good Waste Charter Steering Committee approved these principles for assessing policies moving forward. We share these principles in today’s blog and submit them in response to the consultations on local government reorganisation and local plans.

We believe the principles provide a framework for assessing plans and whether they will deliver an equitable and transparent waste system, the necessary infrastructure for a sustainable future. 

1. The plans must include and clearly define waste infrastructure outcomes related to existing commitments to a circular transition in Oxfordshire.

• All proposals must include principles, policies and actual measures to achieve waste reduction outcomes.
• Terms should be clearly defined  in reference to issues, objectives, processes and  stakeholders involved in waste reduction plans.
• Proposals feature clear targets related to measurable waste reduction milestones. 
• Proposals to have a regular review mechanism in place to measure waste reduction outcomes by an independent body.
• Proposals to make clear how waste systems will change in accessible, direct language. 

2. Models of ownership for waste services  should reflect all stakeholders  and should be equitable (for individuals, communities, local business and service providers).

• Proposals reflect the value of community engagement and ownership of key waste solutions.
• Proposals are inclusive, reflecting all stakeholders in all aspects of waste streams, from production of goods  to illegal waste behaviour.
• Users must be at the centre of the solution and have the ability to influence, including diverse communities and young people through engagement with schools..
• Proposals have been developed which serve the needs of different sectors (e.g., health, social housing, business communities, institutions) and diverse groups  (notably marginalised and disadvantaged communities,  rural and urban communities and young people).

3. Accountability for waste is proportional to the carbon cost of waste produced, and equitable in relation to the ability to pay for disposal and lower impact alternatives.

• Proposals have a cost system for waste related to the carbon cost and severity (e.g., toxicity) of waste generated.
• Proposals include a system which is equitable and reflects the ability to pay for lower waste or more sustainable alternatives.
• Proposals must also be of value to stakeholders and inline with what they are willing to pay.
• Significant penalties are outlined to deter illegal waste dumping and significant funds are put in place for clean up.

4. Waste proposals include  a system which incentivises stakeholders  to minimise waste.

• Proposals include cost and marketing incentives to mimimise generation of waste at all points in the waste chain (including production and consumption reduction), and include grants to support initiatives enabling more sustainable supply chains.
• Sectors which generate high volumes of waste are incentivised to design out waste (e.g., construction and new developments).
• Proposals must include plans to remove and reduce barriers to appropriate waste stream usage in order to prevent the most damaging and dangerous disposals (tipping) and make waste stream usage as straightforward and easy as possible.

5. The proposals set out a system for learning from other regions and from multiple sectors (including academia and business and communities) on best practice.

• Proposals incorporate an intention to learn from best practice, including outlining clear milestones for updating the plan regularly (e.g., annually at a minimum).
• The proposals draw on learnings from community solutions and commercial organisations with regular consultation points and feedback.
• The proposals must be dynamic and learn from their own intelligent data.

Cherwell Collective will build on these principles going forward to develop a set for evaluation of the local plans with a view to feedback through the consultation process. We are especially interested in how these principles translate at different levels of government, as recently discussed with MP Calum Miller when he visited WISH to support our community work. We have organised a meeting in April (details below) and welcome interested members of the community to join us.

Call to action

Cherwell Collective’s Waste Innovation Station Headquarters (WISH) project is launching a public engagement process to develop a county-wide strategy on waste. It aims to cocreate and design policy centring the perspective of businesses, community members, and policymakers.

Open engagement sessions focusing on different waste topics begin in April. Each session will focus on the perspective of one of three groups: businesses, the local community, or policymakers. 

Community Engagement Session: WISH (OX5 1EE)

• Part 1: Wed 22nd April 10-12
• Part 2: Wed 6th May 10-12
• Part 3: Wed 20th May 10-12

Participants will be guided by a facilitator to share their pain points, solutions, questions, and thoughts around waste. Learnings from these sessions will be used to form a county-wide strategy for a Good Waste Policy in Oxfordshire.

Additional community and business engagement sessions are currently in the works and will be shared soon. Please follow the link below for up to date listings.

About Us

Cherwell Collective has just completed its second year of a five-year National Lottery-funded project for building climate resilience in Oxfordshire. One of our primary achievements in year 2 was the formation of the Good Waste Strategy Steering Committee. This committee is guiding a grassroots strategy based at the very core in community consultation around barriers and solutions to waste. 

These works are part of our commitment to drive the mission of the National Lottery Community Fund. The National Lottery Community Fund has four key missions, which are to support communities to come together, be environmentally sustainable, help children and young people thrive and enable people to live healthier lives, all supported by WISH’s community-based climate action activities throughout Oxfordshire.

National Lottery players raise over £30 million weekly for good causes across the UK. Thanks to them, last year The National Lottery Community Fund was able to distribute over half a billion pounds (£615.4 million) of life-changing funding to communities.

Learn more about the National Lottery Community Fund here.