To be updated by Christ Noble, Service Manager Waste and Recycling, and Vicky Beechey, Head of Project Integra, on the following topics:
· The National Context and Waste Strategy
· Project Integra Update
· Waste Composition Analysis Results
· The District Council Recycling Performance.
Minutes:
The Panel received a presentation from Chris Noble, the Service Manager Waste and Transport, and Vicky Beechey, Head of Project Integra, on the following topics:
· The National Context and Waste Strategy
· Project Integra Update
· Waste Composition Analysis Results
· The District Council’s Recycling Performance.
It was agreed that the presentation would be circulated to Members of the Panel.
The Panel noted that the targets for recycling municipal waste would be challenging to meet at 55% by 2025; 60% by 2030 and 65% by 2035. This Council’s current performance was 34%. It was however currently difficult to decide a way forward as it was expected that the Government, in its drive to improve performance nationally and to seek greater consistency, would issue guidance on the materials that should be collected and the collection method. This could have major implications for this District. Until the Government’s requirements were known, it was not possible to plan locally. Food waste and a wider range of plastics were likely to be the priorities.
The Government’s Waste and Resources Strategy would be based on 5 pillars:
• Achieving zero ‘avoidable’ waste by 2050
• Phasing out ‘avoidable’ plastic waste
• New recycling and waste targets
• Stopping food waste going to landfill by 2030
• Reforming the PRN system
A factor that could mitigate against the Council’s percentage capture of recyclable materials was the potential introduction of deposit return schemes for some materials, such as bottles, which would encourage people to return them to supermarkets or vending machines, rather than including them in the Council’s collection, where they would see no financial return. The potential scale of any effect would depend on the operational details of the scheme.
There would be a change in emphasis away from the recycling of materials towards a more circular resource economy, including a greater role for the repair of items, rather than their replacement; and placing much greater responsibility on the manufacturer for meeting the end of life costs of their products. This would significantly increase the proportion of the disposal costs that producers paid, from around 10% currently to nearer 100%.
During 2018 Project Integra had made progress on a number of issues:
• Project Integra’s Action plan;
• Fly-tipping partnership – in particular joint initiatives with other agencies such as the police who could stop and search vehicles;
• Waste Composition Analysis – the initial results for this District being reported later in the presentation
• Driver training (joint with local authorities) to increase driver safely
• Whole systems costs reporting
For 2019, work would continue to implement the Government’s Waste and Resources Strategy; to undertake necessary consultations; to respond to the Year of Green Action and to review the Project Integra Action Plan. There would also be work to seek to achieve behavioural changes to reduce the use of resources, reflecting the waste hierarchy with waste prevention and then re-use being the preferred options.
The Waste Composition Analysis had looked at all the waste collected from a sample of households selected from across the district and reflecting a range of socio-economic groups. This process had established both the degree of contamination of the collected recyclable materials, and the nature of the contamination; and also the amount of material, such as paper and glass, within the residual waste stream that should have been separated out for recycling. This detailed information would be used to inform future initiatives, including the work to influence behaviour change.
Members reiterated their continued support for the promotion of home composting, even though this would reduce the amount of recyclable material collected by the Council. It was more consistent with the waste hierarchy to home compost.
In answer to questions about the collection and use of food waste, the Panel was advised that the success of any scheme would be likely to be dependent on the funding made available by Government. Such schemes had been successful where there had been effective implementation that encouraged participation. Food waste could be composted and also processed through an anaerobic digestion process allowing power generation.
The Panel noted that waste collection in this District was currently one of the most expensive in the county, but this was reflective of the continuing weekly black bag residual waste collections.
The Panel was requested to appoint a Task and Finish Group to look at future arrangements for the collection of textiles through bring banks on council-owned car parks.
RESOLVED:
That Cllrs Bennison, Glass and Matcham be appointed to serve on the Textile Bank Task and Finish Group and that up to 3 additional members be recruited from Council Members who are not on the Panel.