Agenda item

RESOLVED:

(i)               That the waste programme timeline, attached at Appendix A be approved; and

(ii)              That authority be delegated to the Strategic Director for Place, Operations and Sustainability, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Environment and Sustainability and the Waste Management Programme Board, to keep the roadmap at Appendix B under review and agree any minor variations to the waste programme.

KEY DECISION:

Yes.

PORTFOLIO:

Environment and Sustainability

ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS CONSIDERED/REJECTED:

As set out in the report.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST:

None.

DISCUSSION:

The Portfolio Holder for Environment and Sustainability introduced the report and reported that the new waste and recycling collection service would go live next year.  The introduction of the new service would help to address the environmental and climate change objective by increasing recycling, reducing emissions and reducing littering from sacks.  The timeline for the service roll out had been updated and would be carried out in three phases.  The Portfolio Holder praised the hard work of officers in developing the programme.  It was recognised that this was a critical service to the Council and it would be a big change for residents.  For the first time residents would be able to separate their food waste out to be collected weekly, with fortnightly collections for residual waste and recycling.  The Portfolio Holder looked forward to seeing the roll out of the first phase in June 2025.

The Waste Programme Director highlighted that the three phases of service roll out was detailed in Appendix A.  The Lymington area would be the first area to roll out the new collection service, commencing in June 2025, this would be followed by the Ringwood area in October 2025 and the Waterside and Hardley area in March 2026.  Appendix B provided more detail of the road map over an 18 month period to explain the work involved in each phase of the roll out.

The Portfolio Holder for Finance and Corporate was delighted to see the roll out timetable of the new service, recognising it would be a major change to the way the service would be delivered.  It would see an improvement to the recycling rate as well as environmental improvements.  He highlighted that the roll out of the garden waste collection service with wheeled bins had been well received with residents and he was confident that the wider service would be equally popular.  He requested that information be readily available to residents in relation the collection day and what waste / recycling was due to be collected.

A non Cabinet member asked about the appeal process residents would have, should they feel their property was unsuitable to have wheeled bins, recognising that surveys had been carried out by Keep Britain Tidy to consider the suitability of properties in the District.  In response, the Waste Programme Director reported that the survey work would consider the suitability of properties and that operational staff would be involved in determining the suitability of properties for wheeled bins.  It was  recognised that an appeals process would need to be set up.

The issue of communication with local residents was raised by a non Cabinet member, and assurance was sought that clear information would be provided to residents on this major change.  There was a discussion about using the wheeled bins in advance of the official roll out, as residents might experience storage issues for multiple bins as well as the continued problem of bag strikes causing littering.  The Portfolio Holder responded and confirmed that communication would be at the heart of the process and the changes would be clearly communicated.  The Waste Programme Director clarified that the wheeled bins could not be used in advance of the official roll out of the service and that this would be incorporated into the communication strategy.