Issue - meetings

Recommendations from the Executive Cabinet

Meeting: 16/09/2020 - Council (Item 20)

20 Recommendations from the Cabinet PDF 15 KB

To consider the recommendations from the meeting(s) of the Cabinet held on 6^th August 2020 and 9^th September 2020 (to follow)

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Cabinet Recommendations – 6th August 2020

Partnership Waste Strategy Officer

Councillor M. Sherrey, Portfolio Holder for Environmental Services presented the report and explained the reasoning behind the need for this post. She provided background information and explained that the Government had published “Resource and Waste Strategy” in December 2018, as the first major policy document for Waste since 2007. This focused on keeping resources in use as long as possible to extract maximum value and was aimed at changing how waste was perceived and managed from production through to final disposal. The main elements affecting Local Authorities (LAs) were proposed changes to services regarding waste collection and disposal/processing:

· Compulsory Weekly Food Waste Collection by 2023

· Removal of discretionary status for garden waste collection, and removal of ability to charge residents for providing the service.

· Increased pressure on LA’s to implement kerbside recycling collections.

These were being enacted in the Environment Bill currently being processed through Parliament, and currently being considered by a Public Bill Committee. The Committee was now scheduled to report by Tuesday 29th September 2020, and further Government consultation regarding elements affecting LA’s were expected in September/October. These would finalise the minimum expectation for a dedicated Food Waste collection and support final decisions on the status of garden waste collections and discretionary fees for the service.

The impact of those elements on Authorities signed up to the Herefordshire and Worcestershire Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy included: up to 80 additional vehicles and associated staff to collect food waste, approximately £8million per annum across the partnership; Approximately £801k yearly cost to this Council (this would have a significant impact on disposal arrangements and logistics for disposal, with a possible commercial opportunity through investment in Anaerobic Digestion facility with Private sector to generate income and potential loss of approx. £900k income on the existing Garden Waste service, with increased annual costs of approximately £580k in vehicles and staff to support larger take-up across the District, plus a potential cost of up to £300k to buy and deliver wheeled bins.)

In addition to these changes, the Government were also looking at Deposit return schemes and Extended Producer Responsibility, to recoup costs of processing packaging from manufacturers. These could all have an impact on the more valuable recycling materials, and potentially remove or reduce those elements that support profitability of private sector recycling facilities, and impact on viability of wider recycling arrangements currently in place.

Councillor Sherrey confirmed that Government had committed to supporting the costs of these changes, with the expectation that much of the additional funding would come from the private sector to support NET costs for LA’s.

The Herefordshire & Worcestershire Waste Partnership Board had been collaborating on joint responses to consultations carried out already, but the proposed Strategy Officer would:

· Actively engage with National Policy Development to understand and influence it to reflect on local needs and concerns – specifically focusing on the approach to food and garden waste, and the funding implications for each member LA.

· Prepare ... view the full minutes text for item 20