Waste Aware North East

DEFRA Announce Commercial and Industrial Waste Arisings Survey 2010

Defra is carrying out a national survey of commercial and industrial (C&I) waste. This is a major project for both regional and national public bodies which will fill a large gap in our current knowledge of the picture of waste in England. The valuable information collected will feed in to discussions on waste management infrastructure requirements, planning, recycling and waste prevention policy, to name just a few.

My business has been contacted about participating in the survey – what does this mean?

The Q&A below is designed to help you understand what the survey entails and how the data collected will be used. It also aims to provide reassurance on data security and confidentiality and provide links to sources of further information.

Q. Who is carrying out the work, and why now?

Defra has contracted Jacobs Engineering Ltd., in partnership with Halcrow, to carry out the survey on its behalf. The last survey of business waste was undertaken 7 years ago by the Environment Agency. Given the changes in the economy and business approaches to resource efficiency since, this data is increasingly out of date. In order to inform and evaluate future policy, Defra urgently requires this gap in evidence to first be filled.

Q. How was I selected? Why me?

Defra wishes to survey 6,000 businesses across England. To ensure we gain results that are statistically robust, companies are selected completely at random from a national list of basic business contact data maintained by the Office for National Statistics. They are then contacted by telephone (on behalf of Defra by a member of Jacobs’ contact centre team) to be invited to take part in the survey. You are not being targeted – merely the result of a chance selection from a list of similar businesses.

Please note that if your premises are part of a chain, we are only interested in the waste from your particular site and not from across your organisation.

Q. What will happen after I agree to take part?

On your agreement to take part, the contact team member will confirm some address details and book an appointment for a member of Jacobs’ surveying team to visit you at your business site. A small proportion of surveys will be carried out instead by telephone interview. A survey respondent pack will be e-mailed out to you in advance (documents also downloadable below), providing more details of what to expect on the day of the visit.

Q. What if I am off sick that day, called to another meeting, or just can’t be there?

On the day before your appointment, your surveyor will contact you to confirm that you are still available to welcome him/her on site at the agreed time. If you fall ill or become unavailable after this contact, please call the survey contact centre on 0118 946 7800 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 0118 946 7800 end_of_the_skype_highlighting. They will be able to help your surveyor to keep the appointment with a deputy if possible, or alternatively rearrange the appointment for a more convenient time.

Q. How will I know that the surveyor who turns up is legitimate?

When the surveyor arrives at the appointed time, he/she will carry an official Jacobs identification card containing the Defra logo. If you have any concerns over the legitimacy of the surveyor:

Please make contact with Jacobs using the official telephone number detailed on the card;
Do not admit the surveyor until you are happy they are who they say they are.

Q. What will the survey entail?

The surveyor will first ask you to provide any site procedures for emergencies and health & safety. You will then be asked for a brief description of your business processes so that all waste streams can be identified.

The aim of the survey is to estimate the amount of business waste generated in England in 2009. There will be a number of questions about the waste materials your business produced, to identify:

what type of waste it was (e.g. paper, glass, metal etc);
the weight (i.e. in tonnes) or volume of each waste type; and
your arrangements for disposal/recycling of each waste type.

We would then appreciate you giving our surveyor a short tour of your site to see where wastes are generated and stored. The surveyor may also ask to see the type of waste containers you have (wheelie bins etc). This could be to assess what materials comprise any mixed waste streams you produce, or as part of estimating the annual amount of waste your business produces based on information on frequency of collection and the type of containers you use.

All information will be recorded on site by the surveyor on a handheld electronic device. You will be asked to review the information to assure us that you are happy with what has been recorded.

Q. Will your surveyor be physically looking through my bins?

Only a visual assessment of your waste will be performed – no waste will be touched by the surveyor. Jacobs rightfully hold paramount the health and safety of their surveyors.

Q. How long will it take?

We have designed the survey questionnaire to not only flow in a logical manner, but to also minimise the time required to collect the information we need. For the smallest businesses we expect to take around 1 hour to complete the questionnaire. For large sites with complex waste streams, it could take half a day or longer.

We will endeavour to carry out the survey in the quickest possible time and with the minimum disruption to your business practices. The survey respondent pack (see also downloads below) will include some guidance on how best you can prepare for our visit to ensure the visit runs smoothly and as quickly as possible.

Q. Who will see my responses?

Defra and our contractor take Data Protection and commercial confidentiality very seriously. You can participate in our survey in complete confidence that your responses are anonymous and will be used for statistical purposes only. No enforcement action will be taken based on your responses to the survey. Your data will be stored securely at all times, and used in accordance with the Data Protection Act.

Name and address details will be used solely by Jacobs’ personnel involved in contact and booking of appointments and surveying. Once the survey is complete, the database of business contact information will be permanently deleted, as per the agreement with the Office for National Statistics for use of the information. Further details are given in the statement on data protection and confidentiality.

Q. Is this Defra’s way of checking up on my business?

Absolutely not. We are only interested in summary waste data for entire business sectors and regions, not individual businesses. The survey will not be collecting any sensitive information, such as the cost of your waste management arrangements. We are only gathering objective information to help inform policymaking on business waste in England.

The professional surveyors used are Jacobs and Halcrow employees, not Government officials. They are not interested in how you run your business, nor looking to judge your arrangements or assess compliance with regulations. Further, they are not permitted to use the data they collect for any other reason than delivery of the survey.

Q. What’s in it for me? Why should I co-operate?

In order to successfully carry out this important survey, Defra and our regional partners in London and the South West are reliant on you and other businesses to share information on your waste. The data collected will be vital for making informed decisions on future waste policy development, in particular:

to help assess national progress in diverting waste from landfill towards more environmentally friendly recycling and reuse purposes; and
to provide evidence for development of local waste management facilities to help you manage your waste in a more sustainable manner, and as a result reduce your waste costs.

Should you desire, your surveyor will be able to talk to you about your waste management arrangements during the visit (however, they will not be able to give you commercial/financial advice). This may also prove useful to you in better understanding what information you should be keeping as a business on your collected waste.

Please contact the Defra waste statistics team at DefraWasteSurvey@defra.gsi.gov.uk if you wish to be supplied with materials about government policy on waste, becoming more resource efficient as a business, and signposting to who is out there to help you reduce your waste and waste management costs. There is already plenty of good advice and information available using the web links in the ‘Further Information’ section below.

Q. What if I don’t want to take part?

Participation in the survey is not mandatory, and we cannot force anyone to supply information. We will make every effort to accommodate your constraints – to rearrange survey appointments if necessary, and keep our demands on your time to the absolute minimum. Ultimately, if you do not wish to cooperate with the survey we will understand, and we will not pester you.

We hope that the information on this page both reassures and informs you of the reasons why this is so important for us. Almost all official surveys rely on the goodwill of respondents. Without your help, we cannot gather the information needed to take effective decisions. We want to thank you for your cooperation and remind you that you can do so in complete confidence.

Q. I have more questions – who can I speak to?

If you have any questions about the survey arrangements or anything else related to your participation, you should contact Defra.WasteSurvey@jacobs.com or 0118 946 7800 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 0118 946 7800 end_of_the_skype_highlighting.

This survey is being run on behalf of the Defra waste statistics team. If you have any wider questions about waste statistics or policy, you can contact us on DefraWasteSurvey@defra.gsi.gov.uk.

We will aim to add to this Q&A to help other participants if further questions arise – please let us know of any questions you feel we could benefit from including on the list.