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Agenda item

INFORMATION NOTE: WASTE AND RECYCLING UPDATE

INFORMATION NOTE OF THE DIRECTOR – ENVIRONMENT

 

An update on lessons learnt on communal collection issues, composting KPI, recycling and missed bin perfromance.

Decision:

Councillor Amy Allen, as Executive Member for Environment, presented the Information Note entitled ‘Waste and Recycling Contract Performance’, following which Members asked questions.

Minutes:

Audio recording – 16 minutes 51 seconds

 

Councillor Amy Allen, as Executive Member for Environment, presented the Information Note entitled ‘Waste and Recycling Contract Performance’ and advised that:

 

·             A significant increase in recycling and a reduction in residual waste had been seen one year on from the waste contract change, which had been a huge transformation project involving multiple service areas.

·             Issues arising from the contract change had been resolved as quickly as possible.

·             The information note included a breakdown of communal collection issues, household composting performance, recycling performance and reasons why expected increases had not occurred, as well as lessons learned from issues and actions taken to improve service reliability.

 

The following Members asked questions:

 

·             Councillor Paul Ward

·             Councillor Jon Clayden

·             Councillor Elizabeth Dennis

·             Councillor Dominic Griffiths

·             Councillor Claire Winchester

·             Councillor Ralph Muncer

·             Councillor Martin Prescott

·             Councillor Caroline McDonnell

 

In response to questions, the Chair advised that:

 

·             Data on the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) relating to missed collections was not detailed in the information note as this was regularly reported on elsewhere.

·             If a bin was not presented, it was not classified as a missed collection.

 

In response to questions, the Shared Service Manager – Waste & Recycling advised that:

 

·             There had been a peak in missed garden waste bin collections around the garden waste subscription period as several residents had not renewed their subscription but reported their bin as missed.

·             Missed garden waste bin collections were above the target level but they were investigating ways to reduce this through monitoring of repeat missed bins and hotspots.

·             Residential management companies were invited to attend engagement programmes to ensure that communal bin stores were kept clear and accessible as identified in the report.

·             Additional signage, replacement stickers for bins, and new leaflets had been provided for communal areas who had experienced collection issues.

·             Each issue was investigated by Veolia in conjunction with the Waste Team as unique problems could arise and a one size fits all approach was not appropriate.

·             Carboard and fibre bins in communal areas could have been larger at the start of the waste contract change in hindsight, but the Waste Team had experienced resourcing issues at the time, which had impacted service delivery and consideration of issues like this.

·             Additional staff had joined the Waste Team since the start of the contract change to maintain service delivery while addressing problems.

·             The shift to recycling soft plastics had been a success and smoothed the transition to a 3-weekly collection cycle, and they would continue to provide communications to residents to increase their awareness on recycling soft plastics.

·             Missed bin collections had decreased through the year, and regular meetings took place with their contractors to see what contributed and how they could resolve issues.

·             Lost local knowledge of collection routes resulting from the contract change had contributed to more missed bin collections initially, but this had been stabilised with new crews, continued training and tablets to assist crews with collections.

·             Performance indicators within the waste contract were monitored monthly.

·             National recycling rates were recorded annually, and they were aiming to be in the top 5 local authorities in England if they met their aspiration of greater than 60%, which they hoped to continue to increase every year.

·             The top 10 authorities in England in terms of recycling rate operated a variety of collection arrangements and frequencies.

·             The Waste Team worked in conjunction with the Hertfordshire Waste Partnership (HWP), who were responsible for recycling centres and waste disposal, and data for recycling centres could be provided by Hertfordshire County Council (HCC).

·             The decrease in residual waste influenced by the waste contract change had resulted in an overall decrease in costs to HCC related to waste disposal.

·             Improvements would be made to food waste caddy positioning after collections.

·             Garden waste subscribers received emails before the subscription period became live, and promotion on social media was also done in advance, but this process could be evaluated before the next subscription period.

·             A promotion had been run by the Council on water buttes in the recent drought.

·             The Council worked with HWP on Waste Aware campaigns, and a focus had been given to food waste recycling to decrease its presence in the residual waste stream, and Members were encouraged to promote this to residents.

·             Allowing garden waste subscription renewals at any time had been considered, but it was better to align them with the beginning of the financial year and the subscription period of East Herts Council.

·             Members refer members of the public having recycling issues to the Waste Team as soon as possible.

·             Climate change had impacted waste collections as it had reduced garden waste over the summer due to little vegetation growth and made conditions for collection crews more challenging.

·             Other factors outside climate change such as the Deposit Return Scheme would be also considered going forward.

·             Missed collections were not tied to rural or urban areas and were mostly related to operation challenges, but the Waste Team looked at data to help improve service delivery.

 

Councillor Nigel Mason left the Chamber at 20:06 and returned at 20:08.

 

In response to questions, the Director – Environment advised that:

 

·             Soft plastics were measured by weight as this was a national metric, which was frustrating as it did not have a tangible impact on the data for waste and recycling streams.

·             The Climate Change and Sustainability Officer Group already monitored the ongoing impact of climate change across service areas, which would help the Council to adapt to climate change going forward.

 

In response to questions, Councillor Amy Allen advised that:

 

·             Composting bins were not offered by the Council, but there was a link through the HWP to Getcomposting.com, which provided more information on composting.

·             If residents saw that their residual waste bin was regularly overflowing despite sorting their waste into the relevant recycling bins, this could be a sign of unmet need, and residents experiencing this could be eligible to apply for a larger residual waste bin.

·             Information on recycling household items from A-Z was available on the Council website.

 

The Chair and Councillors Martin Prescott and Ralph Muncer thanked the Shared Service Manager – Waste & Recycling and Waste Team for their work since the waste contract change.

Supporting documents: