Issue - meetings

This report is due to be pre-scrutinised at a meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee scheduled to take place on Monday 13^th January 2025.  Any recommendations arising from this meeting will be published in a supplementary pack for the consideration of the Executive Committee.

The Assistant Director Environmental & Housing Property Services presented the report on the Introduction of Food Waste Collections.

The Committee was informed that there were a number of factors to consider as part of the introduction of food waste collections including delays from Government in funding, issues with capacity within the Operating Licence for the vehicles needed to deliver the service in house as well as physical restrictions within the depot. There was also the risk of the volume of residents that participated in the scheme.

Options were summarised for the delivery of the service however officers were recommending outsourcing the service with a joint tender from this Authority, Bromsgrove District Council and Wyre Forest District Council over a period of eight years.

Members were in favour of supporting the recommendations and noted that even if the tender did not work out there would be time to consider other options.

The Executive Director noted that officers would work on a twin stream basis to look at running in-house, as a back-up, to mitigate the risk if the tender did not provide a viable solution.

The Leader thanked the Assistant Director Environmental & Housing Property Services and colleagues for the work on this.

RESOLVED that

1)    Subject to the outcome of negotiations, the introduction of a joint Food Waste Collection Service be approved, working with Bromsgrove District Council and Wyre Forest District Council to deliver the authority’s statutory duties under the Environment Act 2021 regarding a Food Waste Collection service;

2)    Delegated authority be granted to the Assistant Director of Environmental and Housing Property Services following consultation with the Section 151 Officer, the Principal Solicitor (Contracts, Commercial and Procurement) and the Portfolio Holders for Finance and Environmental Services respectively, subject to the agreement of recommendations 1 and 3, to:

a)    negotiate and agree terms with Bromsgrove District Council and Wyre Forest District Council to enter into a joint tender for a shared food waste collection service;

b)    tender and award a dedicated weekly food waste collection service through a third party for a period of 8 years commencing no later than 31 March 2026.

RECOMMENDED that:

3)    The Council allocate £500,000 Revenue Funding in the Medium-Term Financial Plan as an operational budget from 2026/27 to fund the Food Waste Collection Service in the Borough, as accounted for within tranche 1 of the budget.