Agenda item

The Director of Neighbourhood and Environmental Services submits a report and a presentation on an overview of the Waste Management Service.  The Commission is recommended to receive the report and presentation and pass comments to the Director for consideration.

The Chair took this item and agenda item 7, “Recycling Bring Banks”, in the opposite order to that set out on the agenda, to help Members’ awareness of the services being provided.

The Director of Neighbourhood and Environmental Services submitted a report and a presentation giving an overview of the Waste Management service.  These were introduced by Councillor Clarke (Deputy City Mayor with responsibility for Environment and Transportation).

The following points were made during discussion on these:

·           The Council had a duty to collect and dispose of waste.  This was fulfilled through a 25-year Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contract with Biffa that ran from 2003 to 2028;

·           Under this contract, 13 million waste collections were made each year, with 99.6% of bins being emptied each week on average.  This Council was one of the few waste collection authorities that still provided weekly collections;

·           A bulky waste collection service was provided, allowing for the free collection of up to five large items every two months and up to 15 bags/bundles of garden waste every two months.  Despite this, items were still fly-tipped on streets; 

·           The waste collection contract did not include the removal of fly tipping, which was undertaken by the Council’s Cleansing Services, but education was undertaken where possible, including at Ward Community Meetings and via the Council’s City Wardens.  “Hot spots” often occurred and it could be difficult to identify the perpetrators, but over the last four years fly tipping in the city had gone down by nearly 15%, in contrast to the national situation, where it had increased by 40% over the last five years.  The allocation of City Wardens within wards was being re-profiled to ensure that all wards received appropriate coverage;

·           The Council’s Housing services provided resources for collecting fly tipped items from Council housing estates.  They were very active in doing this, but it could be difficult to break established patterns of behaviour.  Discussions were ongoing with the Director of Housing on how this could be further improved;

·           Assisted collections were available for people who had problems moving household waste to its collection point;

·           The Gypsum Close Household Waste Recycling Centre opened in 2015 for household waste and recycling, and trade waste;

·           The reuse shop at the Gypsum Close Household Waste Recycling Centre was very successful and provided a source of income for the Council, through rental income and a profit share.  The latter was triggered when profits reached an agreed level;

·           The trade waste site at Gypsum Close accepted some different materials to those accepted from householders, due to the nature of the waste disposed of by businesses;

·           Two education campaigns a year were targeted at university students.  The ‘move in’ campaign, which also was targeted at landlords and letting agents, explained what could be recycled.  For the ‘move out’ campaign, the Council worked with the British Heart Foundation to encourage donations of unwanted items, rather than just throwing them away.  Final data was awaited on the results of the 2019 ‘move out’ campaign, but it was thought that over 23 tonnes of donations had been made;

·           Schools could use a waste collection provider of their choice.  Biffa offered them a comprehensive service and currently approximately 100 schools used those services.  A Service Development Officer worked to promote recycling in the community, as well as schools.  Waste management carried out 20 education sessions with schools in 2018/19;

·           Industry funding had been obtained for the foil recycling campaign, so there had been no cost to the Council for this.  The campaign had ended recently and was being evaluated;

·           The contractor (Biffa) was required to achieve an agreed percentage rate of recycling in the city.  Penalties were applied if this was not achieved.  Promotions sometimes were carried out to encourage recycling and a new communications plan was being developed in consultation with Biffa;

·           The number of residents in flats participating in recycling had increased, but more work was needed on improving the quality of what was collected:

·           Social media had been used to greatly improve communication on how waste disposal services operated in the city.  The 2018 Christmas recycling videos had been particularly well received;

·           The forthcoming city-wide “Metal Matters” campaign would be part-funded by industry;

·           Destinations for the plastic waste collected in the city changed depending on market conditions and could vary between different grades of plastic;

·           A PFI Board considered performance indicators included in the contract.  A relatively low number of complaints about the service was received;

·           A dedicated complaints system had been established for the service.  If a trend was identified, a specific area could be targeted, or a specific crew highlighted.  In the case of orange bags, customers sometimes stated they had not received their orange bags from the contractor, but this could be due to a range of issues;

·           Scrutiny of recycling collections was not done at a level that would identify individuals who did or did not recycle on an everyday basis, but participation was monitored for specific campaigns to identify whether communications interventions had been successful.  For example, the number of properties participating in the recycling service before a campaign could be compared to that after the campaign had ended;

·           Detailed waste composition analysis had been undertaken in the past, to identify what people were putting in to general waste and what they were recycling.  Consent was obtained from people for this to be done; and

·           The Council had responded to all four consultations on the government’s proposals for its Resources and Waste Strategy.  Further consultation on this was expected.

The Commission congratulated all concerned on the success of the Clean Air Day at Catherine Junior School and expressed the hope that other such days could be held.

AGREED:

1)    That the report be received and welcomed; and

2)    That the Director of Neighbourhood and Environmental Services be asked to consider how engagement with schools in relation to waste management can be improved.