Decision details

Review of the Council's waste & recycling collection service

Decision Maker: Cabinet

Decision status: Approved

Is Key decision?: Yes

Is subject to call in?: Yes

Purpose:

The Council's published Waste Strategy details that a review of the waste & recycling collection services will be undertaken this year with key objectives to increase recycling rates, to improve street cleanliness and to meet financial objectives.

Decision:

RESOLVED (unanimously) that the Cabinet decided:

 

1)  To implement in 2017, following a period of public engagement, a new waste & recycling collection service using tried and tested methodology, which prioritises a weekly recycling service and most closely meets the Council’s objectives detailed within the Waste Strategy.

 

2)  To ensure the retention of a weekly collection service, continuing to deliver one of the most comprehensive recycling services in the UK which includes the following items:

·  Food waste

·  Plastic bottles, pots, tubs and trays

·  Glass

·  Paper and cardboard

·  Aluminium and steel cans

·  Aerosols

·  Foil

·  Tetrapaks

·  Textiles

·  Batteries

·  Small electrical and electronic items

·  Spectacles/mobile phones/used engine oil.

 

3)  To provide residents with additional recycling containers (lidded green boxes and lockable food waste containers) as required, to enable easy storage and collection of this material. To clearly mark the boxes so it is easy to understand what can be collected.

 

4)  To phase out the current blue bag for cardboard over time, and replace with a recycling box to help with storage and collection for residents.

 

5)  To continue with the opt-in fortnightly garden waste recycling service.

 

6)  To collect the small amount of non-recyclable waste that remains after all of these materials are recycled, every other week (detailed in section 6) in containers provided by the Council.

 

7)  To issue residents with a wheeled bin (at properties that can accommodate them), so that waste can be stored and presented safely for collection, whilst also being better protected from gulls and other scavengers to reduce problems with littering.

 

8)  To issue all other properties (those which are unable to accommodate a wheeled bin, or are within an area deemed unsuitable for wheeled bins) with reusable, durable and pest-proof rubbish bags (where practical) to help reduce street litter.

 

9)  To agree that the default size for wheeled bins should be 140 litres, whilst recognising that a ‘one size fits all’ approach is not possible in a diverse district with a multitude of housing types, and to therefore instructthe Divisional Director of Environmental Services to work up alternative proposals that will enable households with larger families/ occupancies to request a larger bin, with the details and criteria of the scheme to be delegated to theDivisional Director of Environmental Service in consultation with the Cabinet member for Community Services.

 

10)To delegate and instruct the Divisional Director of Environmental Services in consultation with the Cabinet member for Community Services, to enter negotiations for a short term extension (up to 2 years) to the recycling contract with Kier (pending site consolidation for the refuse and recycling services) - subject to agreement on the financial and staffing arrangements. Failing this agreement, the Divisional Director of Environmental Services are instructed to make arrangements to bring the kerbside recycling service in-house.

 

11)To agree that the Divisional Director of Environmental Services to carry out further detailed work into vehicle & plant replacement on the recommended option, and to report back to Cabinet members to enable decisions to be taken to release the capital required.

 

12)To agree a neutral budget movement through implementation of strategic review proposals initially highlighted within the Place Directorate Plan in November 2015.

Reasons for the decision:

The rationale for the recommendations is included in Section 5 of the report.

A survey of all households in the district has highlighted that 75% of properties currently on a sack collection would be suitable for wheeled bins. Further work is needed to assess the best solution for the remaining 25% of properties.  For many of these reusable rubbish bags will present the best option.  It is recognised that no one size fits all approach will work across the district however and variations will be necessary for specific situations. 

A recent composition analysis of black bags within the district shows that on average 58% of the rubbish contained in them could still be recycled, demonstrating that there is still large potential for residents to recycle more use our existing recycling service to its full extent.

Alternative options considered:

Many options have been modelled at a high level, and these have been narrowed down to those that most closely fit the Council’s objectives and local circumstances.  More detailed modelling has been carried out on the options identified in the report.

 

Other delivery options have been assessed however the most viable, cost effective options deemed to deliver within required timescales, are those described in the recommendations.

Report author: Carol Maclellan

Publication date: 14/07/2016

Date of decision: 13/07/2016

Decided at meeting: 13/07/2016 - Cabinet

Effective from: 22/07/2016

Accompanying Documents: