Agenda item

Joint scrutiny committee will be considering Biffa Municipal Ltd (Biffa) performance in delivering the household waste collection, street cleansing and ancillary services contract for the period 1 January 2023 to 31 December 2023 (2023 calendar year) and make any comments before a final assessment on performance is agreed.

The report was introduced by the Cabinet member for Environmental Services and Waste for Vale of White Horse District Council, Councillor Mark Coleman. Councillor Sam James Lawrie, Cabinet member for Environment for South Oxfordshire District Council was unable to attend. Officers supporting were Environmental Services Technical Team Leader, Head of Housing and Environment, Waste Projects Officer and Environmental Services Technical Team Leader.

Members asked questions on the performance report:

• Fly tipping: why was there an increase? It was responded that some people drive through the area to fly tip. It was hard to understand unless we get to prosecute / have evidence. An officer confirmed that the cost was part of the contract but passed back to us. Sometimes it was people fly tipping black sacks near to public bins, not just large bulky items, which is the usual impression of fly tipping.
• A member highlighted an issue raised by a resident of electricals being thrown into the main compartment of the waste vehicle. It was an issue of a hired vehicle having no separate cage. Biffa representative confirmed that they will investigate these occurrences if given the detail of the incidents.
• Officer confirmed that more detailed questions were being asked when members of the public raised street cleansing as an issue, to make sure we get better detail of what the real issues were. The ownership of certain street cleaning assets were more complex and the public would not necessarily know if it was a council responsibility or not.
• Recycling plastic film – currently only in supermarkets.  The Cabinet member responded to this. It could be part of household recycling in the future depending on government decision, but currently residents need to take soft plastics to supermarkets. They currently count as contamination in council recycling and it would cost money to start taking those. Head of Environment added that the timings and planning required would take longer – communications to residents, checking if Edmonton sorting facility can handle the film, and the expense.
• Call centre wait times – a member queried the lower rating. Biffa representative answered that the situation was better now, with added members of staff in the call centre.
• A member would like to see the background of the survey respondents, to see who was replying. For example, a parish council single response versus a single resident. An officer responded that it goes to single residents, not to councils. GDPR issues means that they could only get data for the first part of a post code.
• Paragraph four – agreed review framework. As a scrutiny committee, how do we review the framework? Can we review this? Was the same format suitable for different contracts? Head of Service did explain that the current contract extension was measured in a different way, but the member questioning the framework questioned whether a one-size-fits-all framework was used, as there would be different needs. This could be a future item for Scrutiny.
• Paragraph 69 – KPIs including climate objectives. A member questioned the impact of changes in climate targets on Biffa KPI’s. Cabinet member responded that this would be a question for Climate committees, as this report was to assess the 2023 performance of Biffa and its current KPIs.
• It was confirmed that surveys were open to all residents, and the communication push from the officer team was discussed.
• Table one page 16 on recycling rate. Do we remove more garden waste than other councils, and should we measure against others. Cabinet member explained that authorities can choose what they offer at present. He discussed the need to see waste levels reduce, and discussed high recycling rates, and how lower recycling could indicate reusing and less waste generation, which was the ideal.
• Discussed packaging (card) and click and collect services to reduce waste.
• Emptying public litter bins was included in the survey, for the bins the council collected. The results of the survey (includes street cleansing) would be reviewed with Biffa to see where to monitor.
• A member questioned the council satisfaction being fair. Was this being improved? It was responded by Head of Service that this was for 2023. Now in 2024 we had a contract extension, and closer working to monitor that. It was confirmed that closer working between the council and Biffa meant improvements in the working relationship.

Members voted in favour to accept the officer’s recommendation on Biffa contract performance for 2023.

RECOMMENDATION

Joint Scrutiny committee considered Biffa Municipal Ltd (Biffa) performance in delivering the household waste collection, street cleansing and ancillary services contract for the period 1 January 2023 to 31 December 2023 (2023 calendar year) and made comments before a final assessment on performance is agreed.