Decision details

Audio recording – 13 minutes 12 seconds

Councillor Amy Allen, Executive Member for Recycling and Waste Management presented the report entitled ‘Expansion of the Soft Plastics Collection Trial’ and advised that:

·       This report sought approval for the expansion of the kerbside collection of soft plastics.

·       A trial had taken place in Knebworth since November 2023, where approximately 2,000 households had fortnightly collections of soft plastics, which had been successful.

·       The proposed expansion across North and East Hertfordshire would reach around 6,250 homes by 2025.

The following Members asked questions:

·       Councillor Ruth Brown

·       Councillor Ian Albert

·       Councillor Elizabeth Dennis

In response to questions the Contracts Manager – Waste advised that:

·       As the trial in Knebworth had been successful the next areas to be trialled would be Royston and some of the villages in the Royston, to gain a wider demographical picture.

·       An initial flyer had been posted to residents, followed by a hand delivery of a leaflet and a pack of sacks to enable residents to participate in the trial.

·       There had been positive feedback received from residents and more sacks had been requested.

·       This project will be fully funded up to April.

·       North Herts Council would be introducing this across the district from 2025 which was ahead of the government deadline of 2027.

·       Work was ongoing with the current processor to look at what was working well with the collections and what was not going so well, to produce a final service design for the contract.

Councillor Amy Allen proposed, and Councillor Ruth Brown seconded, and following a vote, it was:

RESOLVED: That Cabinet:

(1)   Agreed to the expansion of the Flex Collect trial and kerbside collections of soft plastics.

(2)   Delegated to the Service Director Place any necessary change to the collection demographic and area for the trial.

REASONS FOR DECISIONS:

(1)   One of the key aims of the project is to give insight into the types and quantities of soft plastics available for collection. The current Knebworth collections partially mimic the 2025 services, however the expansion of the service seeks to gather data from a wider demographic.

(2)   North Herts residents’ current participation in the trial has yielded good participation levels with high volumes of soft plastics being collected per household. The Shared Waste Service is also gathering information on collection issues and the effectiveness of communication methods. Expanding the project will give the Council an opportunity to further test operational implications of collections, quantities and types of plastic collected from different areas and exploring processing requirements. The expanded trial more closely mimics the new service roll out in 2025.

(3)   The expanded trial coincidences with the Shared Waste Service undertaking market testing in advance of considering processing options for material from 2025. The additional trial data will inform our future Material Recovery Facility (MRF) contract procurement or extension needs for 2025 and provide data for the wider industry to better prepare for the anticipated mandated collection of soft plastics.

(4)   The expansion of the trial is fully funded until April 2025 by the Flexible Plastics Fund.