Committed to green policies as a core priority
With the increasing impact of climate change and coastal erosion, we have established green issues as a core priority for the council.
We have signed up to the national Nottingham Declaration which commits local authorities to become more energy efficient and to care for the local environment.
We recognise that we have an important role to play in making the council's own services and buildings more energy efficient and more environmentally friendly.
For example, the new toilet block in Woodbridge will be the greenest in Suffolk, using grey water from Deben Pool for flushing. In Felixstowe we recently fitted low-energy bulbs to the decorative lighting along the promenade.
Achieved recycling rates of 40% - well above the national average
Cans, tins, plastics, cardboard, paper and garden waste are now being collected from over 13,000 homes in the district and are then recycled. As a result, 54% of waste from these homes is being diverted from costly and environmentally-damaging landfill.
Across the whole district residents are now recycling 40% of all their household waste.
Promote a greener Suffolk by energy saving and care of our environment
Thinking and acting green is essentially about the sensible use of natural resources.
We live in one of the driest districts in England and energy is neither cheap nor abundant. We believe it is in everyone's interests that we do all we reasonably can to reduce harmful emissions, save water and conserve energy.
We believe the council must set an example by looking at its own consumption of water and fuel and seeing how it can be reduced.
We will continue to provide advice to homeowners on energy conservation and will examine how energy-saving measures might be built into new housing developments.
Work to achieve a recycling rate of 60%
We plan to roll out kerbside collection of recyclables to every home in the district by 2010. This should mean that the council, with a lot of help from residents, will be achieving a 60% recycling rate.
Providing such a service comes at considerable cost. But there will be savings in the longer term from the penalties that would otherwise have to be paid for sending waste to landfill. And there are clear environmental benefits. Landfill sites emit dangerous methane gases and by recycling materials everyone is playing a part in conserving precious natural resources.