Issue - meetings

To seek approval for the adoption of the revised Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy.

(Report attached)

RECOMMENDED that:

1)    the Council endorses the reviewed Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy and agrees the adoption of the revised Strategy for Herefordshire and Worcestershire, subject to full consideration of the business case for the collection of garden waste;

2)    the Council requests that the County Council provides Worcestershire District Councils with suitable financial support to better enable the authorities to work jointly toward the goals set in the JMWMS. The Head of Environment be delegated responsibility to undertake such negotiations in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Housing, Local Environment and Health;

3)         the Council requests that WorcestershireCounty Council work with the District Councils to identify any efficiency savings on waste collection and disposal that arise from the revised JMWMS that can be shared amongst the Partners;

4)         the Council thank the drafting team of Richard Woodward (Worcestershire County Council), Kenton Vigus (Herefordshire Council) and Sue Horrobin (Redditch Borough Council) for their work producing this document and Bobbie Ashby (Redditch Borough Council) for her graphic design work on both the questionnaire and the final Headline Strategy document.

The meeting considered the revised Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy for Herefordshire and Worcestershire. The key changes had been outlined at a special meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee the previous week to which all Members had been invited.

The Committee was content to endorse the recommendations within the report aside from reservations over the possible collection of garden waste at some future date. Members remained to be convinced that this was going to provide an environmental benefit. It was conceded by Officers that the case for garden waste collection still needed to be made, although the benefits in terms of recycling rates were apparent and the need to redirect waste from landfill was pressing. It was noted that the Strategy did not commit the Council to the introduction of garden waste collection.

The Committee discussed the future direction of waste collection services within the County. It was noted that the direction of travel was towards increasing harmonisation of service provision with the possibility of significant cost savings to be made for disposal if not the collection of waste.

RECOMMENDED that:

1)    the Council endorses the reviewed Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy and agrees the adoption of the revised Strategy for Herefordshire and Worcestershire, subject to full consideration of the business case for the collection of garden waste;

2)    the Council requests that the County Council provides Worcestershire District Councils with suitable financial support to better enable the authorities to work jointly toward the goals set in the JMWMS. The Head of Environment be delegated responsibility to undertake such negotiations in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Housing, Local Environment and Health;

3)         the Council requests that WorcestershireCounty Council work with the District Councils to identify any efficiency savings on waste collection and disposal that arise from the revised JMWMS that can be shared amongst the Partners;

4)         the Council thank the drafting team of Richard Woodward (Worcestershire County Council), Kenton Vigus (Herefordshire Council) and Sue Horrobin (Redditch Borough Council) for their work producing this document and Bobbie Ashby (Redditch Borough Council) for her graphic design work on both the questionnaire and the final Headline Strategy document.