Agenda item

Joint Scrutiny committee will consider the draft joint Waste Resources and Street Cleansing strategy and make any comments before a final strategy is presented to Cabinet for decision.

Cabinet member for Environmental Services and Waste (Vale) introduced the report. Officers supporting were the Waste Projects Manager, Environmental Services Manager and the Head of Housing and Environment.

The strategy was not final, and scrutiny views will be built in before formally going to Cabinet in September. Members can send comments to officers up until 22 July. Committee asked questions in the meeting as follows.

• Page 58: summary of national government changes. A member discouraged pale type on documents and requested bigger labels and boxes. A member suggested an acronym glossary.
• A member asked whether smaller shops could be included as an exception to commercial.
• Member discussed the split of bins for recycling
• Praise was given for deposit reduce scheme, bring and take events, glass removal
• 321 collection strategy (this would be a potential consideration if central government allowed it). It was felt by a member that this might cause some reaction from residents. Head of Service felt that people get used to it over time with preparation. He also explained how the strategy was to encourage involvement from everyone, we all need to play our part in waste reduction. Another member showed support for the 321 strategy and felt that case studies would be available to show that it does work
• Consideration should be given to size of households who can’t help creating more waste – so may have overflowing bins by comparison to smaller households.
• A member asked about bulky waste straight to landfill (reference page 69 of the pack). An officer confirmed that electricals were recycled. Sofas (POTS) needed incineration. The rest was landfill (less than 1%). We do encourage reuse and reduce
• Can we lobby government to label all material, to show what can be done with it. Officers added that when the set recyclable materials were named by government, all councils across the country will be obliged to recycle, and this will include labelling. Members asked can we influence government policy as part of the strategy?
• Page 73 - success targets, how did we arrive at the figures. An officer explained that the government target was 65 percent recycling rate by 2030. We were 5 percent above this. A member asked whether we should be ambitious, and move to 70 percent? Officer explained that extra 5 percent was harder to hit. Another member expressed a differing view that we should increase recycling rate but remove numbers. The cabinet member added that meeting the 70 percent target was not desirable – he hoped we would be reducing and reusing, hopefully with the waste deposit scheme. We want waste per household coming down – not increase in recycling (as this implies more consumption and not reusing).
• Can we liaise with other council departments, can we liaise on events and use licensing powers to stop waste created at events etc.
• Page 75, regarding roadside litter. A member asked if we could trial CCTV / ANPR to catch those littering/ fly tipping
• Waste sacks for those unable to use wheelie bins – have other options been considered for blocks of flats etc? Members discussed options such as large communal bins and examples seen elsewhere.
• Officers welcomed suggestions to improve the capture of food waste.
• Can we have (post-2026) some pilots on bin configuration.
• A member raised the issue of edible food in food bins, we need to help educate on using food and not just throwing it. Can we be a zero-waste council(s)?
• What markets locally were there for recycling (sorting)? It was suggested that this would be looked at for the post-2026 contract.
• A member asked can we ask county council to put a bid in, (with reference to Fix My Street), to help direct residents when reporting issues. For example, was the issue for water or sewage? Or fly tipping? To help direct people to the correct organisation.

Committee listed their main points and formed their recommendation, with members voting in favour.

Joint Scrutiny Committee considered the draft joint Waste Resources and Street Cleansing strategy and made comments before a final strategy is presented to Cabinet for decision. The committee welcomed the report and recommended the following for consideration by Cabinet:

1.    Make sure the font is clear on a readable background colour

2.    Prepare people for change – education, preparation and communication

3.    Suggestion of making an acronym glossary (from page 15 of the report)

4.    Should we keep recycling figures or focus on reusing figures? Overall waste reduction targets were deemed more important than recycling rate.

5.    Working across council teams – can we include our targets within licensing for events, planning, procurement etc?

6.    To tackle fly tipping and roadside litter, members suggested ANPR, and asked can viable options be investigated for this issue?

7.    Committee would like to show the aspiration to be a zero-waste council.

8.    Requested investigation into recycling (sortation) locally before sourcing elsewhere.