Agenda item

To brief the re3 Joint Waste Disposal Board on progress in the delivery of the re3 Joint Waste PFI Contract.

The Board considered a report on progress in the delivery of the re3 Joint Waste PFI

Contract. The report covered:

·        Re3 Strategy 2018-2020

·        Trade Waste at the Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs)

·        Reuse Shop

·        Paint Reuse

·        Barriers at Longshot Lane

·        Expiry Dates for Commercial and Commercial Type Vehicle Permits

·        Joint Policy on Contamination of Kerbside Collected MDR

·        Communications

The Board was presented with updated information on the rate of recycling. Food

waste collection in Wokingham had a big impact in increasing Wokingham’s kerbside recycling rate. Wood recycling had also added to the overall rate in all three boroughs.

In line with the seven-month trial, acceptance of trade waste from registered traders commenced on Monday 4^thNovember 2019. So far take up had not been as high as expected. Additional waste types were being looked at to be included in the charging structure. The service would be advertised to local businesses and on social media.

Officers would present further results from the trial at the meeting of the Joint Waste Disposal Board in April, with a recommendation regarding the continuation of the service.

Officers had been exploring the potential for reuse and retail opportunities on, or proximate to,the two Household Waste Recycling Centre (HWRC) sites. Officers had concluded that there was not enough space for a shop within the boundaries of the Longshot Lane Recycling Centre and had contacted the Property Services team at Bracknell Forest Council with regards to vacant units on the Longshot Lane industrial estate. They were advised the terms of the standard Lease would not permit the activities proposed for a retail outlet. Damian James would speak to the Property Services team regarding the specifics of the lease.

Officers were still working with the contractor regarding the proposal for paint reuse, the details of the proposal had been shared with the Environment Agency. It was hoped that the scheme would be operational by the end of February 2020.

Due to an incident at Longshot Lane in August 2019, barriers had been put in place to segregate cars from pedestrians. The metal barriers were set at 1.1m in height, which is the minimum legal requirement and same height as the walls over which residents deposit their general waste. Site staff were available to help with lifting bags if assistance wasrequired.

In order to monitor permit usage for Commercial and Commercial Type Vehicle’s the Permits would expire at the end of each contract year and also be unrecognised by the system. This would allow for permit usage to be managed more effectively. Officers proposed that the new system would be implemented from 1 April 2020.A six-month grace period was proposed, during which residents with a windscreen sticker could hand-in their stickers for access (in the absence of any qualifying forms of ID) to the HWRC. The Board requested that the changes in the permits be communicated to all users.

Sarah Innes, has been working with colleagues from the three Councils to draft a joint contamination policy which would set out a phased approach for helping to reduce contamination in recycling. Match funding and support had been secured from WRAP who had indicated that they could fund the implementation of the policy in trial areas.The contamination policy would be implemented from the 23 March 2020 in trial areas across re3, during this stage crews will assess and leave any contaminated containers unemptied until the resident removed the contamination. A Recycling Quality Officer will be employed to monitor the tagging of contaminated containers, if containers were contaminated more than once, then the officer would speak to the resident. The contamination tags will be in the form of a sticker forWokingham and a bin hanger at Reading and Bracknell.

The “Plastic Recycling Wheel’ had been created for residents as a handy tool to help check what they could do with different types of plastic packaging or items. The wheels had been sent to approx. 16,000 householders living in Warfield, Tilehurst and Woodley. The wheel was also available in the Council offices, public libraries, community hubs and displayed at the Recycling Centres and promoted via re3 and Councils social media channels. Feedback had been very positive, with West Berkshire asking about the wheel. The Chair stated that she would like a large one to be made out of reused materials that could be taken to schools and events.

At the JWDB meeting in October 2019, Members had agreed that windscreen

permits would no longer accepted as proof of residency at the re3 Recycling Centres

from 1 February 2020. Officers were confident that residents were aware of the changes as there had been coverage by the press, high engagement on Social Media, signage at the sites, and information on the council’s websites. There had been mixed feedback ahead of the change with people concerned that there could be queues caused by the checks. Wokingham had received a couple of complaints regarding data protection and queuing.

The re3 Project Team had commissioned videos about what happens to collected recycling and food waste. Members of the re3 Board and officers had featured in the videos that provide insights into the recycling process from the moment of collection through sorting, baling and sending to the recycling companies. The videos would be made available to interested community groups and schools as educational tools and would be available on the website to share.  The Chair would propose that Bracknell Forest members go on a tour of the reading facilities.

RESOLVED that:

       i.          Members note the contents of this report.

      ii.          Members request a report on the outcomes of the trade waste trial at the re3 recycling centres be presented at the meeting of the JWDB in April 2020.

     iii.          Members approve the usage of commercial and commercial-type vehicle permits to be monitored from the start of each contract year, commencing 1st April 2020.

    iv.          Members request a report on the outcomes of the contamination project

with WRAP be presented at the meeting of the JWDB in October 2020.

      v.          Members approve a supplementary condition to changes to the residency checks.