Issue - meetings

Report of Councillor S Pickering, Portfolio Holder for Environment and Place

RESOLVED that:

(1)      the statutory changes to waste collection including Simpler Recycling, Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) and Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) be noted.

(2)      the recommended option for Simpler Recycling, as outlined in the report, be approved.  This included:

a)    production of a TEEP (Technical, Economic, Environmental and Practical) Assessment.

b)    noting the Head of Paid Service’s recommendation to seek approval from full Council to recruit and establish 19 FTE for food waste service operation.

c)     providing first roll of compostable caddy liners to residents to encourage behaviour change.

Cabinet considered a report which set out the statutory changes to waste collection including Simpler Recycling, Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) and Deposit Return Scheme (DRS).

The report set out the options that had been considered for collections. It was explained that a Technical, Economic, Environmental and Practical (TEEP) Assessment for business recycling had been carried out earlier in the year. This had been done prior to the introduction of Simpler Recycling to all businesses with 10 Full Time Equivalents or more.  The TEEP assessment had highlighted that to introduce a separate collection for paper and card additional capital investment would be required for new vehicles and containers along with changes to current waste processing arrangements.  The Council would now also need to produce a TEEP assessment for domestic recycling to demonstrate to the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) the justification for continuing to comingle paper and card along with other dry materials in one bin.

In respect of food waste collections, kitchen caddies had been provided to households in 2014, and DEFRA had not provided funding to supply new kitchen caddies to each household.  The report also set out that compostable kitchen caddy liners were not funded as part of the New Burdens settlement but to encourage behavioural change, the new service should be made as easy as possible for residents.  It was therefore proposed to provide the first roll of kitchen caddy liners for free, then householders would need to purchase their own.

The report stated that it had been calculated that an additional 19 staff would be required to provide a weekly food waste service to residents.

RESOLVED that:

(1)      the statutory changes to waste collection including Simpler Recycling, Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) and Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) be noted.

(2)      the recommended option for Simpler Recycling, as outlined in the report, be approved.  This included:

a)    production of a TEEP (Technical, Economic, Environmental and Practical) Assessment.

b)    noting the Head of Paid Service’s recommendation to seek approval from full Council to recruit and establish 19 FTE for food waste service operation.

c)     providing first roll of compostable caddy liners to residents to encourage behaviour change.

REASONS FOR DECISION – The recommendation provides a robust option to meet the statutory changes to waste collection introduced by the Government.

OTHER OPTIONS CONSIDERED AND REJECTED – The Environment Act determines how waste in England must be collected and a weekly food waste collection was a statutory requirement. As set out in the report the move to introducing a separate collection for paper and card would be prohibitively expensive and would require a considerable outlay for new wheeled bins.