An apology for absence was received from Councillor Ektaveen Thandi and Councillor Tony Rana attended as her substitute.

The minutes of the Operational Services Cabinet Committee held on Wednesday 20 March 2024 were signed by the Chair.

No declarations of interests were made.

The Committee was presented with the Waste Management Team Annual Report for 2023-24. The report provided an overview of the work of the waste management service which detailed how dynamic and responsive the service was in response to the challenges it faced together with the performance targets it had and continued to meet.

The Waste Projects and Compliance Officer highlighted key aspects from the report, in particular:-

·        Completed projects/service improvements during 2023/24;

·        Ongoing projects/service improvements; and

·        Watch this space projects for 2024/25.

The Committee considered the report and highlighted the following:-

·        concern was expressed regarding flats recycling and food waste as in some areas it looked unsightly for example Harmer Street. The Assistant Director (Operations) advised that this was an issue that the waste management service was aware of and were looking at ways to resolve the issue for example ‘designing out’ the issues by ensuring that when future flats are built, dwellings converted etc that proper bin stores are put in place. With regard to Hamer Street, the Assistant Director (Operations) advised that this was an access issue;

·        there were a number of good news stories/projects such as the ‘New Clothing & Textiles Contract with the Salvation Army’ and ‘Recycle Your Electricals Project’, it was important for these to be well communicated/publicised;

·        the Committee asked for the locations of the Salvation Army donation banks. The Waste Projects and Compliance Officer advised that he would provide Members with a list of the locations;

·        the Committee noted the ‘Battery Recycling Project’ and asked whether vapes could be recycled. The  Waste Projects and Compliance Officer advised that there was currently no provision in place for the recycling of vapes as they would need to be dismantled in order to be recycled etc. The Committee was informed that there was a container at Pepperhill Household Waste Recycling Centre where vapes could be disposed of and that the Government was currently exploring a return scheme so that vapes could be returned to retailers for recycling;

·        the Committee commended the work of the Street Champions; it was felt that all Members should be encouraged to, and should encourage their constituents, to sign-up as Street Champions. The Chair asked if a map could be circulated to Members to highlight those areas where support was required. However, it was also highlighted that the role of being a Street Champion can be demoralising when there is repeated littering and that there needed to be more focus/campaigning on anti-littering including multiple languages. It was felt that further campaign work could also beundertaken onrecycling contamination. The  Waste Projects and Compliance Officer advised that the Council could look to refresh its littering campaign and that it was always exploring grant funding opportunities to fund/expand campaigning;

·        with regard to the ‘Recycle Your Electricals Project’, the Committee asked whether there was income and/or expenditure related to these projects. The  Waste Projects and Compliance Officer advised that grant funding would usually be available for these types of projects; and

·        concern was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

Further to minute 19 (20.03.2024), the Assistant Director (Operations) informed the Committee that the Government had now published its ‘Simpler Recycling’ proposals which would introduce the following for domestic collections:-

·         all properties must receive a separate collection of dry recyclables (paper, cardboard, plastic, metal and glass) from the kerbside by 31 March 2026; 

·         all properties must have a weekly separate weekly food waste collection from the kerbside by 31 March 2026;

·         garden waste collections must be offered to all properties by 31 March 2026;

·         all properties must have a plastic film kerbside collection by 31 March 2027; and

·         residual waste must be collected at least every two weeks.

It also included proposals for the collection of waste from businesses. Businesses must have the following waste collections by the dates set out below:-

·         dry recyclables (paper, cardboard, plastic, metal and glass) by 31 March 2025;

·         food waste collections by 31 March 2025; and

·         plastic film collections by 31 March 2027.

The report presented Members with the proposed changes to the Council’s waste & recycling service in response to the Government’s ‘Simpler Recycling’ proposals which would see the Council adding glass to its co-mingled recycling service. The other change will see food waste collected in separate vehicles from refuse and recycling.

Following consideration of all available information, the following three proposals were put forward for consideration in order to take forward the waste & recycling service over the coming years:-

·         Option 1 - Fully co-mingled recycling collection (including glass) with food collected in same vehicle as refuse/recycling;

·         Option 2 - Fully co-mingled option (including glass) with food collected in separate vehicle as refuse/recycling; and

·         Option 3 - Part co-mingled recycling collection service with paper/card collected separately from glass, plastic and metals.

The report presented details on all three options together with the pros and cons and a financial evaluation.

Following consideration of all options, the Assistant Director (Operations) advised that option 2 was recommended as the best way forward. This option would result in the service being fully co-mingled (including glass) with food collected in separate vehicles. The service would provide:-

·         residual waste collected every two weeks;

·         recycling collected every two weeks - co-mingled collection of paper, cardboard, plastic, metal and glass;

·         food waste collected weekly; and

·         food collected separate from residual / recycling using smaller RCV’s.

The inclusion of glass in the co-mingled recycling would be an easy change so would be implemented as quickly as possible. The addition of glass to the recycling service would have a positive impact on the borough’s recycling rate.

The other changes to the service including the change of collection vehicles would be implemented over the next 12-18 months dependant on the funding available and procurement timescales for the vehicles.

As part of the changes to the service, a rescheduling exercise will also be carried out to make sure the new service was as efficient as possible.

The Assistant Director (Operations) welcomed the views of the Committee prior to the decision being taken by the Portfolio  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

The Committee was presented with an update against the Performance Management Framework, as introduced within the Council’s Corporate Plan, for Quarter Four 2023-24 (January to March 2024).

The Committee considered each performance indicator in turn and highlighted the following:-

·        in relation to PI 5 - Total Environmental Protection cases completed, the Committee asked why the figure in quarter 3 was significantly higher than quarter 4 and how many cases had not yet been closed; what the oldest case was; what was the average turnaround time; and were there repeat offenders. The Assistant Director (Operations) advised that the anomaly in quarter 3 was due to a concerted effort to close down old cases from when the team was understaffed, etc. The team was now fully resourced, with newer team members being trained and settled, resulting in more time to properly log and investigate/complete cases. However, the Assistant Director (Operations) advised that he would arrange for the Head of Community Protection to provide a response to the Committee in relation the questions raised; and

·        in relation to PI 8 - % of cleanliness reports completed within 5 working days, the Committee asked if there was a schedule detailing when specific areas/wards will receive street cleansing/sweeping and, if specific areas/wards, that look unsightly or hotspot areas for fly-tipping were regularly reported/checked by the Street Cleansing Team. The Assistant Director (Operations) advised that there was a schedule in place however it would not give an exact date/time for when a particular area/ward would receive street cleansing/sweeping; this was due to the schedule changing on a regular basis as it was dependent on road access, staffing etc. Should Members and/or their constituents have concerns regarding a particular area/ward then those areas should be reported to himself and/or the waste management service. In relation to fly-tipping, this was managed by the Environmental Enforcement Team so it was important that all fly-tipping including hotspot area was reported via the correct channels as this will allow the Team to investigate and prosecute fly-tipping including providing surveillance in hotspot areas.

The Committee noted the report.