Issue - meetings
DISCUSSION - WASTE AT CHRISTMAS AND WASTE UPDATES
Meeting: 06/12/2023 - Cabinet Panel on the Environment (Item 87)
PRESENTATIONS
To receive presentations on topics including waste disposal, waste service updates and waste at Christmas. Following this the Chair will lead a discussion with Members and public.
Decision:
Presentations were received from Cllr Amy Allen, Executive Member for Recycling and Waste Management, and David Birley, Waste Aware Co-Ordinator – Herts Waste Partnership.
Minutes:
Audio recording – 17 minutes 36 seconds
The Chair invited Cllr Amy Allen, Executive Member for Recycling and Waste Management, to provide a presentation on waste at Christmas. Councillor Allen advised that:
· As Christmas only happens once a year, it is often not thought about until the last minute, and this impacted on the ability to practice sustainable living at this time of year.
· There was a tendency to indulge more, travel more and buy more over the Christmas period, which often led to waste. Having less at Christmas can be beneficial on both finances and carbon footprint.
· It was important to think about sending cards, especially who to send these to and whether a physical card was necessary.
· The ability to reduce waste at Christmas came from a position of privilege, as many families are having to reduce their expenditure all year round.
· Poorer families often must choose a cheaper, plastic alternative to the sustainable option, as they do not have the financial capacity to afford to live sustainably.
· Some things at Christmas cannot be controlled, but it was important to identify the areas which you can control and make changes to be slightly more sustainable.
· It was not possible to control the actions of others.
The Chair invited David Birley, Waste Aware Co-Ordinator – Herts Waste Partnership, to provide a presentation on reducing food waste. Mr Birley provided a presentation supported by slides and advised that:
· The Herts Waste Partnership existed to promote better understanding of waste, recycling and was reduction, with a specific campaign on food waste.
· The costs associated with producing packaging that ends up in the waste system were increasing and therefore this was an incentive for manufacturers and consumers to think about materials used more cautiously.
· There was a significant drop in waste generated between 2021-22 and 2022-23.
· There were three ways of managing organic waste: In Vessel Composting, Open Window Composting and Anaerobic digestion.
· Almost all organic waste material generated across Herts are processed within Herts, or just outside, and all three methods were available within the North Herts District.
· Of the 49% of residual waste collected in Herts, 56% was non-recyclable with the other 44% being split between dry recyclables (14%) and recyclable organic waste (30%).
· There were two types of food waste. Edible waste which had been brought for consumption but had not been eaten and unavoidable food waste such as peel, skin and cores.
· The impact of edible food waste was that Councils would need to collect this, which would increase the cost to the residents. There was also an environmental impact of this kind of food waste, which contributed to climate change and biodiversity issues.
· Councils collected more edible food waste than unavoidable waste.
· It was important to identify what types of edible foods were being wasted so that a campaign can be organised to address this.
· The cost of living crisis had caused people to reduce their food waste either through necessity or a realisation that whilst some ... view the full minutes text for item 87