About Staffordshire Waste Partnership

Staffordshire Waste Partnership (SWP) is a collaboration of the councils in Staffordshire to work together on waste management issues. SWP comprises of all ten councils operating in the county.

Staffordshire (excluding the city of Stoke-on-Trent) is a two tier administrative area comprising 8 district or borough councils and Staffordshire County Council.

The district and borough councils are Waste Collection Authorities (WCAs), meaning they are each responsible for the collection of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) in their area. Staffordshire County Council is a two tier authority which acts as the Waste Disposal Authority (WDA) for the entire county, meaning it is responsible for the management and disposal of the waste collected by the WCAs. Stoke-on-Trent is a Unitary Authority (UA), meaning it is both a WCA and WDA. SWP was established in 2001 to provide a platform for collaborative working between the WCAs and WDA, to provide a consistent framework for waste management in the county through the production of a strategy, offer knowledge sharing opportunities, and to present efficiency savings with consortium agreements.

SWP is operated through collaborative working between Waste Managers from each authority. Between 2009 and 2012, the main role of SWP was to highlight awareness of waste issues within the communities of the county. In 2013, SWP changed focus to adapt to changing legislation by concentrating on the strategic development of SWP, through the management of key projects and facilitation of the required changes to meet the core objectives of this refreshed strategy.