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TITLE OF REPORT: NEW WASTE AND RECYCLING SERVICE – REVIEW
REPORT OF THE HEAD OF LEISURE AND ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES
PORTFOLIO HOLDER: COUNCILLOR P.C.W. BURT
1 SUMMARY
1.1 This report provides Cabinet with an update on the performance of the new Waste & Recycling Service and the financial implications arising from it. The report outlines the significant improvement in recycling capture rates and an even more pronounced decrease in the amount of waste disposed of in landfill,
1.2 The report asks Cabinet to consider and agree a number of changes in service policy to reflect the lessons leant in the first six months of the service and to consolidate and improve performance.
2 RECOMMENDATIONS
2.1 For Cabinet to comment on the report and consider the following recommendations and agree:-
2.1.1 To the amended Policies as shown in Appendix A and explained in section 8.2, particularly:
2.1.2 Withdrawing the free provision of compostable liners for kitchen caddies with the exception of flats as described in section 8.3 and Appendix B of this report.
2.1.3 For textiles to be left at the side of the co-mingled bin to prevent contamination and improve quality and performance and to delegate authority to the Head of Leisure & Environmental Services to determine changes in arrangements for the collection of textiles in consultation with the Portfolio Holder as required in section 8.4.2.
2.1.4 An increase in the revenue budget for 2013/14 due to unforeseen increases in costs associated with the retendering of the co-mingled contract, as described in section 10 of the report.
3 REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATIONS
3.1 To obtain endorsement to changes to the New Waste Service.
4. ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS CONSIDERED
4.1 Various alternatives have previously been considered prior to the introduction of the New Waste Service and discussed in previous reports, these minor changes are to protect the quality and performance of this new service. However, as discussed in this report and appendices, other options have been considered as appropriate.
5. CONSULTATION WITH EXTERNAL ORGANISATIONS AND WARD MEMBERS
5.1 The Hertfordshire Waste Partnership, Herts County Council, the Portfolio Holder and Shadow Portfolio Holders have been consulted with during the New Service rollout.
6. FORWARD PLAN
6.1 This report contains a recommendation on a key decision that was first notified to the public in the Forward Plan on 7 October 2013.
7. BACKGROUND
7.1 Cabinet at their meetings in December 2012, January and March 2013 agreed to the New Waste Service and the DCLG bid for weekly collection of food waste, capital funding for the new service £1.19m, revenue additional costs not exceeding £83k and for policies for the New Waste Services respectively.
7.2 A waiver under section 20.2(c) of the Council’s Contract Procurement rules was agreed by the Chief Executive in June 2013 to procure short term (Feb 2014) a haulage company for transporting the co-mingled waste from our transfer station in Radwell to a Material Recycling Facility (MRF) in St Albans pending the commencement of the jointly procured consortium contract with Herts Waste Partnership.
8. ISSUES
Waste & REcycling Performanace
8.1 Financial Performance
8.1.1 Financial performance is discussed under Section 10.
8.1.2 With regard to the meeting our primary and secondary objectives for the New Service which are:-
8.1.2.1 Removal of Cardboard from the Organic Waste Stream (Composting)
A recent audit undertaken by HCC at Cumberlow Green identified that we had completely resolved the issue of cardboard contaminating the composting waste stream, with only a very small amount of non-compostable waste identified (almost not measurable). Taking into account the quantity of compostable liners distributed to our residents, the audit did not see the levels of kitchen waste and compostable bags expected and this will continue to be kept under review.
8.1.2.2 Reduce the amount of residual waste (landfill) and improve on our recycling performance
The following histogram illustrates the positive impact the New Service changes has had on NHDC performance, with a significant reduction in waste sent to landfill. This will make significant savings for the disposal authority that will, in part, be passed to NHDC through the Alternate Financial Model, (AFM) which is part of the Herts Waste Partnership (HWP) agreement. 2013/14 AFM payments will be received in 2014/15.
Composting shows no significant signs of change with cardboard being removed and a marginal increase in food waste. Variations in the September landfill figures between last year and this year are due to high levels of contamination last year leading to some loads of compostable waste having to be landfilled.
The move to co-mingled recycling has shown a significant increase in participation by our residents and if participation rates continue this should help us reach the aspirational HWP target of 60% recycling, composting & re-use of all materials. Over the next year it will be important for the service to concentrate it’s efforts on ensuring good quality recycling is sent for processing at the Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) and that residents have clear information about what can and can’t be recycled.
8.2 POLICIES
8.2.1 Cabinet considered and approved a number of policies in March 2013 prior to the rollout of the new service and included:-
· Collections
· Provision of Containers
· Segregation of Waste (Houses)
· Large Households
· Segregation of waste(flats)
· Assisted Collections
8.2.2 The rollout has identified the need to make some minor changes to some of the policies and these are shown in Appendix A. The key changes are:-
8.2.2.1 Segregation of waste(flats) – the need for change is to make sure that in multi- occupancy properties any action needs to be taken against the landlord and not the resident as with flats it is difficult to determine which occupant is in contravention of the Policy.
8.2.2.2 The revised policy therefore has a greater emphasis on providing education and support to residents of flats as it has been identified that the majority of residents who contaminate bins do so due to a lack of understanding of the system.
8.2.2.3 The policy also has clearer descriptions of the correct materials for recycling, and permits the use of compostable liners with the seedling logo which can be obtained by residents from a number of local retail outlets.
8.2.2.4 The policy also provides more information relating to the formal processes the Council may follow where significant problems persist, including charging of managing agents to empty contaminated recycling bins. It is anticipated that with additional advice and support the need for more formal processes will be minimal.
8.2.2.5 Segregation of waste (houses) The revised policy has a greater emphasis on providing education and support as it has been identified that the majority of residents who contaminate bins do so due to a lack of understanding of the system. Letters to residents supporting the policy have also been reworded to provide encouragement to residents who are confused and not deliberately misusing the service. It is hoped that by rewording these letters that it will reduce the number of residents who are dissatisfied with the Councils approach to managing the new service and increase their understanding of our need to collect better quality materials for recycling.
8.2.2.6 The policy also has clearer descriptions of the correct materials for recycling, and the use of compostable liners with the seedling logo.
8.2.2.7 The policy provides more information relating to the formal processes the Council may follow where significant problems persist, including the possibility of formal action under Section 46 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 in severe cases of waste mismanagement which result in for example side waste and dumped rubbish. Formal action will only be pursued in exceptional circumstances where residents show a disregard for the requirements of our service and procedures and delegations are being drawn up in liaison with legal services.
8.3 Compostable Kitchen Caddy Liners
8.3.1 The AFM payments are currently paying for the provision of compostable kitchen caddy liners and consideration needs to be given to either continue with such provision, which will be a growth bid for 2014/15, or discontinue. Appendix B provides an analysis of the options.
8.3.2 To summarise, Officers would recommend that NHDC discontinue the provision of disposable Kitchen caddy liners, (other than for flats) the main reasons being:
· Financial – Refer to section 10 of the report, there is uncertainty on the continuation of AFM payments through the HWP agreement, which would have significant financial implications to NHDC. The cost of kitchen liners in 2013/14 is expected to be approaching £200k, for future years there is the cost of liners based on delivery of between 3,000 and 5,000 rolls per week amounting to £165,000 and £270,000 and although some distribution costs are covered in our collection contract there are addition distribution costs associated with the significant increased number of calls and administrative work that the provision of liners has created. The Council has over 55k households, participating households will use approximately three rolls of disposable liners a year at a cost of over £1 per roll. Future distribution, and administration costs have not yet been determined but could be as much as three times the cost of the bags. Residents were provided with compostable bags when the Kitchen caddies were delivered.
· Operational – Our contractors and our own Customer Service Centre have experienced a significant number of additional calls about caddy liners which results in both an administrative and operational burden. This is in addition to rolls being replaced by crews during normal collections, where residents place their tag on bin handles.
· Participation – There is no evidence to suggest that providing rolls has significantly increased participation, refer to histogram in 8.1.2.2.
· Provision – The requirement for rolls by some residents has exceeded our foreseen reasonable use and it is possible that the liners are being used for other purposes such as sandwich bags or dog poo bags. This has meant their has been a greater than expected demand for liners which is not being seen in the organic waste reaching the composting plant. Cumberlow Green, the composting facility used by NHDC, have now however confirmed that commercially available bin liners with the seedling logo can now be dealt with at their facility. Many supermarket and stores are now offering a range of these compostable bags that residents can purchase at low cost. Residents will also be able to use paper liners with the seedling logo but newspaper will not be permitted due to the ink affecting the composting process.
Provision of liners for sale could be considered at key Council owned locations at a small cost, if required, to support a cost neutral solution, however this is unlikely to be cheaper than residents purchasing liners from supermarkets and again requires some administration which increases costs to the Council.
· Contamination – As stated in para 8.1.2.1, there is no longer a significant level of non-compostable material in the organic waste stream. There may be some risk of increased contamination if compostable kitchen caddy liners were not provided, for example, if some residents used plastic bags for food waste separation, however, discussions with colleagues at HCC, responsible for the disposal of Waste and client for the Cumberlow Green contract, suggests an understanding that future provision of compostable liners may not be financially sustainable for this Authority if such provision does not materially increase the diversion of additional food waste from the residual waste stream. It was also considered that, whilst any increase in contamination, such as plastic bags for food waste, is not desirable, this risk can be adequately mitigated with the continued communications campaign by the wider HWP to advise residents in the use of compostable kitchen liners only. Collection crews will also continue to inspect bins to check for compostable liners only.
8.3.3 The DCLG grant of £853k for five years included the provision of caddy liners, therefore to meet the requirements of the bid NHDC need to continue with such provision for flats only until at least 2018. It is anticipated that flats residents will be provided with caddy liners annually to minimise the additional cost of deliveries.
8.4 Textiles
8.4.1 Residents are participating and, as requested, put their textiles inside the co-mingled bin. Unfortunately sometimes residents either put textiles into the bin loose or put other materials on top of the bag of textiles obscuring them, and it is therefore put into the back of the recycling vehicle and contaminates the other co-mingled material. This is which is causing problems at the transfer station where additional resource has been required to attempt to remove the contamination. Any textiles reaching the MRF were it is finally processed will be landfilled and is an additional cost to NHDC.
8.4.2 To alleviate this issue and maximise the amount of textiles sent for recycling it is proposed to promote a change to all our residents, asking them to put their textiles at the side of the co-mingled bin or on top of their blue box and not inside it. Authority to determine precise details of this and associated matters is recommended to be delegated to Officers in consultation with the Portfolio Holder to reflect the need for operational flexibility.
8.4.3 There are financial, operational and legislative risks if we do not control the quality of our recycled materials.
8.5 Flats
8.5.1 With the exception of the rationalisation of bins the rollout of flats was completed during September 2013
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8.5.2 Residents have overall welcomed the parity of service, which is now very similar to all other households in the district, participation levels are high and contamination is at acceptable levels, with very few sites having problems with contamination.
8.5.3 The £853k funds from the DCLG has funded £400k of capital in terms of bins and a vehicle, the remainder is for revenue costs of £71,702 annually over the next five years including the variation to contract and the cost of further caddy liners for flats approximately £15k annually.
9. LEGAL IMPLICATIONS
9.1 Cabinet at their 23rd January 2013 meeting made members aware of the EU Waste Framework Directive and in particular that by 1st January 2015 separate collection of paper, metal, plastic or glass is required when necessary to meet the recycling priorities of the EU Waste Framework Directive but provided separate collection is technically, environmentally and economically practicable (TEEP). The priorities set out in the EU Waste Framework Directive (in priority order) are prevention, preparing for reuse, recycling, recovering by other means i.e. energy recovery and disposal.