Agenda item

As requested at the last Overview Board meeting, the Head of Street Scene and Community, Mr. Bell, presented a report on the draft revision of the Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy.  It was explained that the Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy for Herefordshire and Worcestershire had been developed by the Joint Waste Resource Management Forum and had been adopted by all County and District Councils within the two counties in 2004.  It was explained that the updated version took on board the revised national position.  Members asked a number of questions and there was discussion on various aspects of the strategy and the impact for the District.

Mr. Bell confirmed that it was his understanding that although planning permission had been granted for autoclave plants at Hartlebury and Madley, it had not proved possible to conclude a satisfactory contractual arrangement to construct them.  However, Councillor Dr. Lord believed that the use of autoclave plants remained an option which was still being investigated.

The Board was reassured that the MRF (Material Reclamation Facility also known as ‘Enviro Sort’) was on schedule to be completed later in 2009.  It was anticipated that the co-mingled collections in Bromsgrove could commence in November 2009 although it was understood that a co-mingled collection service was more likely to be fully implemented across the District from April 2010.  It was expected that the new facility would be able to process additional types of recyclables, therefore allowing the District Council to collect more types of materials for recycling to help increase recycling rates further.

There was a brief discussion relating to food waste disposers (also known as macerators) and the potential issues they cause for water companies.  Mr. Bell stated that there had been debates relating to the use of food waste disposers as there were many variables.  It was explained that the numbers of properties using the food waste disposers were relatively few and therefore impact on water companies was small at the present time.  However, research was continuing and further advice had been sought from water companies as part of the consultation process.

It was reported that all local authorities were gathering baseline data for the national indicator (NI) 193 relating to municipal waste landfilled and when this data had been collected, action plans would be produced to assess the environmental benefits of the different disposal options.  It was confirmed that there was no additional household waste sites planned for Worcestershire.

With reference to the disposal target (target 6 in the strategy), Mr. Bell explained that there were a number of ways in which landfill waste would be reduced including education programmes relating to reducing the volume of waste created, together with recycling and reusing as much waste as possible.

It was pointed out that there was a legal requirement to produce and refresh the Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy to ensure a consistent and robust approach was taken by all local authorities across the two counties which could be used for any public enquiry.

RESOLVED:

(a)    that, subject to modifications made following public consultation, the Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy be approved; and

(b)    that the Head of Street Scene and Community be requested to confirm whether or not autoclave plants remained an option which was still being investigated.

RECOMMENDED that, subject to modifications made following public consultation, the Cabinet (in April 2009) be requested to approve and adopt the revised Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy.