Household Waste Recycling Centres
Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRC) are the place to recycle and dispose of household waste. People can use these facilities if they live in the Durham County Council area.
HW Martin Waste Ltd carry out this household waste service on our behalf which enables people to dispose of and recycle a number of items including textiles, plastics, electrical equipment, scrap metal and other general waste items.
For all information about our centres visit Recycling centres (tips).
We gather feedback from you, to make sure this service is continually meeting your needs
We review all the feedback we receive with HW Martin Waste Ltd to understand what is important to you and determine how we can continually improve the service. For example, following customer feedback, we have extended our waste provision to enable people to recycle additional items such as coffee pods at some centres.
Please complete our current customer feedback survey to share your experiences.
Phases
Feedback and next steps
Thank you to everyone who provided feedback on our household waste recycling centres. We received 382 responses. We will run this survey again later in the year as we continue to learn more about people’s experiences to help us make improvements for all users.
Survey feedback
From this first survey we have gained value feedback covering a number of areas. Below is a summary of this feedback covering:
- Visitor Frequency
- Types of waste brought to HWRCs
- Customer satisfaction and experience
- Information and communication
- Waste Permit Scheme
- Demographics information
- Site differences
- Opportunities for Improvement
1. Visitor frequency
Over 25% of respondents visited an HWRC within the past week, and nearly 75% within the past month suggesting the sites overall are being well used. The feedback also suggested most site users plan trips around periodic household clear-outs.
2. Types of waste brought to HWRCs
The most common types of waste disposed of is general waste and carpets, garden waste and paper/cardboard are the top categories. Wood/plasterboard and scrap metal are also significant.
Hazardous streams (asbestos, chemicals, gas bottles) are low, but their presence highlights the need for clear hazardous waste processes to be followed at the sites. The feedback also suggests site users are wanting to dispose of items such as vapes/e-cigarette containers as an emerging area of waste disposal.
3. Customer satisfaction and experience
Over 83% of respondents are satisfied with their most recent HWRC visit, with 58% “very satisfied.” The main reasons for satisfaction are site cleanliness, staff politeness and helpfulness, ease of access and good container layout and signage. Areas for improvement include improvements to signage, improving queue times.
4. Information and communication
People primarily are finding information about the sites on the Council’s website. On-site signage is also important for sourcing information. Improvement areas include better communication and awareness raising regarding information available that gives people live updates about the sites including queue times and the provision of more information on topic areas such as what happens to my waste.
5. Waste Permit Scheme
Regarding the Waste Permit Scheme 38.8% of respondents are either very satisfied or satisfied but the majority of people responding to the survey don’t currently use the scheme.
6. Demographics information
Feedback within this category highlights the importance of providing accessible sites with clear signage to specifically support site users who have a disability.
7. Site differences
72.5% of site users are “local” to the site they use, but some sites show there is a higher proportion of users who are not “local” to the site. Some sites score higher on satisfaction than others and there is mixed feedback across different sites regarding feedback on things like signage and site layouts.
8. Opportunities for improvement
The following areas provide us with opportunities to make improvements covering:
- Signage: including making signage clearer and having more signs at the sites.
- Digital Engagement: increasing awareness of live updates and recycling information online
- Accessibility: continued focus on accessible design and communication for users, particularly those with a disability.
- Expanding Accepted Materials: exploring the feasibility of accepting more waste types
Will provide an update against these improvement areas in due course.