Agenda item

To enable the Cabinet to consider comments and recommendations made by the Resources and Services Overview & Scrutiny Committee following that Committee’s scrutiny of the Council’s waste and recycling collection service.

RESOLVED that the comments and recommendations of the Resources and Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee be noted and the comments of the Environment and Public Spaces Portfolio Holder, in response thereto, be endorsed.

During the consideration of this item, Councillor I J Henderson declared for the public record that he was a member of Essex County Council’s Climate Change Commission.

Cabinet was aware that, at the meeting of the Resources and Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee held on 21 September 2020 (Minute 86 referred), the Committee had been provided with an overview of the Council’s Waste and Recycling Collection Service.

Future ambitions of the service to further improve the recycling rates:

Members of that Committee had heard that the last of the main delivery of approximately 58,000 wheeled bins had been completed by the end of August 2019 and as such the wheeled bin service had been in operation for just over a year. The report of the Portfolio Holder for Environment & Public Space placed before Cabinet on the 16th February 2018 had anticipated that the fortnightly collection of residual waste from a wheeled bin service would reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill by an estimated 16% (4,500 tonnes) whilst increasing recycling by an estimated 3,100 tonnes and increasing the recycling rate by an estimated 8%.

The Committee had been made aware that the latest audited data supplied by ECC for the period of April 2019 to March 2020 had reported a reduction of waste sent to landfill by 7,363 tonnes, increasing recycling by 2,899 tonnes and increasing the recycling rate from the 2018/19 figure of 27.4% to a 2019/20 figure of 36.6%; an increase of 9.2%.

Those figures had not only met or exceeded the predicted ambitions of the new service, the new waste service had not become fully operational until the last week in August 2019, this indicated that with the first 5 months data based either fully, or partially, on the old weekly collection service, that the future performance of the fortnightly collection service would continue to over-achieve the initial targets set for the service.

It had been reported to the Committee that the Council’s Recycling Officer had recently overseen the installation of a new bring site, located at ASDA in Clacton resulting in the installation of 6 additional glass banks, which had helped support and increase the network of bring sites across the District. Additionally the community bring site in Brightlingsea had seen a larger capacity tetrapak bank installed to help meet demand.

It had been further to the Committee that the Street Scene team had recently taken on a new technical administrator; the purpose of that position would be to provide additional administrative support to the team, which when combined with the increased use by residents and customers of the Authority’s on line My Tendring portal reporting tool,  would further improve the Council’s responses to enquiries and complaints and critically, would free up the Recycling Officer to prioritise their workload in promoting and enhancing recycling within Tendring.

As highlighted above the team continued to work and build upon the foundations of the new waste service, continued to deliver wheeled bins, installed and provided additional bring sites and ensured all new build properties were provided with a full waste and recycling container set in a timely manner; those efforts could be reflected in the recycling data for September 2019 up to and including the end of April 2020; for that 8 month period which solely reflected the fortnightly collection service had recorded a recycling rate of 39.80%; an increase of 12.4% compared to 2018/19.

After much deliberation the Committee had commented and recommended to Cabinet that:

(a)    that the recommendation from 17 February 2020 about waste minimisation information to residents (perhaps in the annual council tax leaflet)  is repeated;

(b)    that the Cabinet be invited to set the aspiration for this Council over the next four years to reach the mean level of recycling for all local authority districts in the East;

(c)    that (further to (b)) the aspirations information presented to the meeting be assessed and an action plan be developed to take relevant ones forward in the short, medium and long term aimed at achieving the aspiration referenced.  This action plan to be submitted to this Committee; 

(d)    that work with primary schools on waste reduction, minimisation and recycling should start at the first practical opportunity and details of involvement be passed to the relevant ward councillors in advance of such work commencing and explore possibility of funding for schools to support recycling; and

(e)    that details of all bring sites be submitted to the Committee detailing the recycling available, the extent of use as far as it is known, the collection frequency and the plans for improving them, the range of recycling to be made available to extend that provision and address any excess of use over capacity for it and the signage at those sites to be clear that side waste should not be left.

The Cabinet had before it the following response thereto which had been submitted by the Portfolio Holder for the Environment & Public Space (Councillor Talbot):-

“I would like to thank the Chair and the Committee for their recommendations and I too share their ambitions and future aspirations for the waste and recycling services provided to the residents of Tendring by this authority.

The officers continue to work tirelessly not only to improve and enhance our network of bring sites but to deliver projects over the period of the current contract which will provide residents with new opportunities to recycle more and reduce the amount of waste sent to Landfill.

I also look forward to the appropriate time when they can engage with primary school students in promoting the key messages of waste reduction and recycling, a key message which hopefully once installed in to them at an early age will stay with them throughout their adulthood and perhaps even share with their parents.

In relation to the aspiration to reach the mean level of recycling as compared against all local authorities in the East, with so many different waste and recycling arrangements in place, as Portfolio Holder we must ensure that any comparisons made to other authorities is based on a like for like basis and in doing so will provide us with a true and meaning comparison.”

Councillor Talbot informed the meeting that the recycling rate for the month of September 2020 (the latest available) had been 42%.

Having considered the comments and recommendations submitted by the Resources and Services Overview & Scrutiny Committee together with the Portfolio Holder for the Environment & Public Space’s response thereto:

It was moved by Councillor Talbot, seconded by Councillor Porter and:-

RESOLVED that the comments and recommendations of the Resources and Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee be noted and the comments of the Environment and Public Spaces Portfolio Holder, in response thereto, be endorsed.