Council and democracy

Agenda item

Cross Party Waste Working Group and Municipal Waste Strategy for Thurrock 2021-2031

Minutes:

The following Members of the Waste Management Working Group were in attendance for this item – Councillors Byrne, Muldowney, Ralph, and Smith.

 

Councillor Fletcher, Chair of the Waste Management Working Group, presented the report and stated the Cross Party Waste Working Group had been formed in August 2019 with the key objective of reviewing the requirements of the Government’s waste strategy paper and establish how Thurrock would be able to meet those requirements. The Group considered the statutory implications for the Council which would impact on the way Thurrock collected and disposed of their waste and to improve the level of the recycle rate of household waste that was re-used, recycled and composted. Thurrock’s recycling rate was 34.76% compared to the national average of 43.2%.

 

Members were provided with the areas investigated and the activities the working group had undertaken which included:

 

·         Understanding the current process with household waste collection which included a visit to Bywaters, Thurrock’s current dry recycling disposal point.

·         A review of the current waste collections service levels and vehicles which included a visit to the Depot.

·         An overview of communications and education had taken place in the past two years.

·         Members attended a training event with WRAP. An insight into messaging and communication regarding recycling and reuse.

·         An overview of the planned improvements for the Household Waste and Recycling Centre redevelopment.

·         Supported the work currently being undertaken on the Flats Recycling Project.

·         Benchmarking the collection regimes maintained by other councils.

·         Reviewed the National Waste Strategy to understand the implications for waste services in Thurrock.

·         A consultation of all residents was undertaken with a response rate of 1%, 684 completed surveys returned.

·         Education work within schools would continue.

 

Councillor Fletcher stated that following the work of the Waste Management Working Group the recommended approach would be to:

 

1.         Thurrock would have a refreshed Waste Strategy that was compliant and aligned with National Policy. The approach outlined in the strategy would include changes to domestic collections, implemented on a phased approach which would have implications for disposal contracts and vehicles. The key aspects would be: replace residual waste collections with a new weekly food waste collection to all households and an alternate weekly residual collection; retain the weekly collections of dry recycling; retain the fortnightly collections of garden waste; redevelop the Household Waste and Recycling Centre; review of Thurrock’s waste collection fleet to ensure a reduction in carbon footprint and fuel usage; ensure future waste disposal contract negotiations followed new principles such as (i) reduction in distance travelled to disposal sites (ii) identify opportunities for additional recycling and reuse and (iii) ensure a reduction in waste sent to landfill; reduce the occurrence of single use plastics; investigate the feasibility of creating a transfer station within Thurrock to support alternative disposal options; investigate the feasibility of building an energy recovery facilities in the borough.

2.         To ensure that throughout the implementation of the Waste Strategy, the service would consistently look to Educate and Empower residents to recycle and reuse with enforcement being seen as the final option.

3.         The Council would consider any potential impact on jobs and services before the Waste Strategy was put in place.

4.         That a Waste Communications Strategy would be developed as part of the Waste Strategy.

5.         That the Waste Management Working Group continued to work with the waste service in an advisory capacity with update meetings being held 4-6 times a year.

6.         That all options presented to the Waste Management Working Group did not include financial costs or savings.

7.         The Waste Management Working Group acknowledged that the proposed changes would have a positive impact on the recycling rate but would also impact residents and therefore a robust communications campaign would need to be implemented.

 

Members discussed the consultation response rate and questioned what work had been undertaken to promote the consultation. Members were informed the consultation had taken place between January and March 2020, every Thurrock household had received a postcard with details on how to register, changes were made to the on-line consultation portal to make the registering process easier to encourage more residents to respond. A reminder mail shot that included bin stickers and best practice guides were distributed to every household. Paper copies were available in libraries and hubs, press releases and social media were used and the deadline had been extended to allow time for more residents to participate.  Councillor Hague and other Members agreed that although they were disappointed with the level of response, acknowledged the challenges of when the consultation was undertaken.

 

Councillor Lawrence questioned whether residents had the opportunity to purchase a second brown bin. Officers informed Members that this had not formed part of the working group discussions and would be for Officer Groups to discuss and consider other garden waste options available and would report back to the committee.

 

Councillor J Kent commented that the residual waste collections should remain as a weekly collection, otherwise this would lead to fly-tipping.

 

Councillor Redsell questioned whether hospital clinical waste had been considered and was informed that there was not a separate clinical waste collection in Thurrock.

 

Councillor Rigby questioned why the recycling rates in Thurrock had reduced and was informed that this was potentially down to lack of awareness and contaminated collections and these areas would be included in the education part of the strategy.

 

Councillor J Kent stated that the Council should be ambitious in their review of Thurrock’s waste collection fleet and to take the opportunities of all possibilities. Councillor Lawrence agreed and questioned whether leasing would be the way forward instead of purchasing new vehicles.

 

Councillor J Kent stated his uncertainty and that serious consideration would need to be given when investigating the feasibility of building an energy recovery facilities in the borough.

 

Members discussed their concern on any impact to job losses and were reassured that the service was currently backfilling a number of vacant posts with agency staff and that following the finalised route optimisation this would more than cover any potential resource implications.  Members were also reassured that the Council would protect any potential job reductions and would not recruit into permanent positions until such time as this transition period had been completed.

 

Councillor J Kent asked for the costs of the two waste survey exercises and questioned the value for money of these exercises. It was agreed that Officers would provide this information following the meeting. This information is as follows: Mail-out 1: Postcard delivered to 68,000 properties in Thurrock, two sided colour postcard printed on recycled paper - Total Cost for printing and distribution - £12,280.  Mail-out 2: Educational/Information and Survey Reminder Pack including letter, full-colour recycling guide printed on recycled paper and a weather proof recycling bin sticker to go on blue bins distributed in a pack to 68,000 properties. Total cost for printing and distribution – £26,746. The combined total cost was £39,026.

 

Members had a lengthy discussion on how the community should be made aware of the potential changes and agreed these should not be implemented until residents had been informed. That a clear mandate should be provided with clear details of the proposals and therefore all Members agreed that a further recommendation should be added to the report:

 

Cleaner Greener and Safer Overview and Scrutiny Committee recommend to Cabinet that they consult fully with the community before they enact with the refuse collections in Thurrock.

 

Councillor Redsell thanked Members for the good debate and discussion and thanked members from the Waste Management Working Group for all their hard work and contribution.

 

Councillor Redsell asked whether Members now agreed with the five recommendations. Members agreed to all recommendations apart from Councillor J Kent who voted against recommendation 1.2.

 

RESOLVED

 

1.         The Cleaner Greener and Safer Overview and Scrutiny Committee noted the activities and research undertaken by the Cross Party Working Group.

 

2.         The Cleaner Greener and Safer Overview and Scrutiny Committee commented on the refreshed Waste Strategy and Communications Plan, recommending it to Cabinet.

 

3.         The Cleaner Greener and Safer Overview and Scrutiny Committee proposed that the Cross Party Working Group continue to have a role in reviewing the progress of the implementation of the Waste Strategy.

 

4.         The Cleaner Greener and Safer Overview and Scrutiny Committee considered as part of the new Waste Strategy how the council can lead by example and act to reduce, and where possible, eliminate single use plastics.

 

5.         That Cleaner Greener and Safer Overview and Scrutiny Committee recommend to Cabinet that they consult fully with the community before they enact with the refuse collections in Thurrock.

Supporting documents: