To receive a presentation on the subject of the Revised Waste Strategy from Councillor Brandon Clayton, Redditch Portfolio Holder for Housing, Local Environment and Health, and the Redditch Waste Management Manager.
The following subjects will be covered in the presentation:
a) consultation outcomes;
b) principles, policies and targets;
c) climate change;
d) delivering the strategy; and
e) dealing with residual waste.
(Oral report).
Minutes:
The purpose of the evening was to provide further information to Members about the Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy. Members received a presentation which outlined the key revisions to the Strategy.
The strategy was originally published in 2004 with the intention to review and make revisions to it on a regular basis. The current review had begun in 2007. Public consultation had been undertaken as part of this review in early 2009 and a final draft of the strategy had been completed in August 2009. This final draft promoted the Waste Hierarchy which advocated, in the following order of priority, reducing, re-using, recycling, recovering and disposing of waste. Officers commended Bobbi Ashby, the Council’s graphic designer for her excellent work in producing the design of the strategy.
Officers explained that the strategy was a joint strategy for both Worcestershire and Herefordshire and was programmed to run for thirty years until 2034. The current revision had been agreed in January 2009 by the Member Waste Resource Management Forum. The strategy had taken into account some of the key legislative drivers that impacted upon the ways in which local authorities disposed of waste. In particular, these included the Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme (LATS) and National Indicators for recycling and composting. LATS was a scheme designed to reduce the amount of waste being sent to landfill. The County Council was liable to large penalties through this scheme if it was not able to reduce waste. In the previous year, 197,000 tonnes of waste had been sent to landfill in Herefordshire and Worcestershire and it was predicted that by 2034, this would have risen to 250,000 tonnes. Worcestershire County Council was currently in the process of investigating residual waste treatment options.
The strategy set out the ‘core services’ which would provide the opportunity for materials to be collected but through a commingled collection of recyclables. The increase of waste prevention, recycling and composting could be achieved through either restricted collection frequency and / or a restricted container size. Any service that was not covered through the core services would be charged for to recover the cost of provision. This would include any possible garden waste collection that might be introduced.
Consultation had taken place on the strategy across the two counties through the use of focus groups and questionnaires. The focus group responses revealed that many participants wanted: more information about what happened to their recycling once it had been collected; more advice about the range of services; and improved consistency in collection across Councils. Results from the questionnaire revealed that: some participants were unclear about what they could recycle; over a third of people felt they could not compost at home as their garden was too small; and two thirds of people donated items to charity rather than throwing them away.
Members noted that they had observed onsite anaerobic digesters being used for waste management in Scandinavia. It was suggested that these could be integrated into new housing developments through the planning process. Officers explained that the use of anaerobic digesters had not been included in the strategy but it was something they could review and potentially incorporate into both the strategy and action plan for implementing the strategy.
Members noted that only one local business had been involved in the consultation process. They commented that more could be done to encourage businesses to address their recycling duties and to reduce their carbon footprint. Officers explained that the focus of the strategy was on municipal waste which consisted of household waste and that business waste was dealt with in a different way. However, it might be possible to incentivise businesses to increase their levels of recycling.
Members questioned whether it would be possible for more work to be undertaken with charities to increase the re-use of old furniture. Members suggested that furniture could be received by the waste disposal site with any re-usable items being passed on to local charities. Officers explained that Worcestershire County Council had been investigating the possibility of installing sheds on two of their sites that would enable them to accept and store furniture. Re-use of waste materials was discussed in greater detail later in the meeting.