Agenda item

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

The Board received a report briefing them on progress in the delivery of the re3 Joint

Waste PFI Contract.

The report covered:

·       re3 and Council Performance Statistics

·       Waste Tracking

·       WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) Banks

·       Recycling of Flexible Plastic Packaging

·       Booking System Translations

·       Links Between Booking Systems and Fly-tipping

·       HWRC (Household Waste Recycling Centre) Reuse Options

·       Review of HWRC Charges

·       Actions from the HWRC User Satisfaction Survey

·       Community Compost Scheme

·       Agenda Setting

Sarah Innes reported the provisional recycling rates for April 2022 – January 2023 were detailed within the report alongside a comparison of the full year of 2021/22. Graphs setting out the quarterly performance had also been included which showed that the recycling rates for all three Councils were slightly below the figures for last year. A full year of data would be available at the next meeting in June, Sarah would provide a full breakdown of the data at this meeting however it was already clear that the compostable tonnage, food waste and garden waste, was already below previous year’s figures. It was suggested that the cost of living could have had an impact on the amount of food waste collected as people were not wasting as much food.

Since 2004, Local Authorities had to report their waste data to Government via

the Waste Data Flow System. This included the tonnages of waste collected and details of how and where each tonne is treated. Later in 2023, or in 2024, these systems were due to be replaced by a digital waste tracking service. Defra was building the system up gradually and it is understood that they would work on plans for local authority usage and provision of data in the first half of 2023. It was currently unclear what the implications of this were. Officers would seek to be part of the discussions so that the implications for data entry and monitoring could better be understood.

At the January meeting of the Joint Waste Disposal Board, Members had instructed

Officers to investigate the idea of using a network of recycling banks to collect small

electrical appliances. Officers had spoken to three local authorities who currently use banks to collect these items and investigated how re3 could provide a similar service. As a result, an expression of interest in relation to the Material Focus WEEE fund had been submitted, which had been successful to get to the next stage of funding. Sarah asked for feedback from Members in regard to where the banks should be situated. If the bid was approved there would be 30 banks, 10 banks per authority which would allow each Council to look at a cross section of sites borough wide.

At the January Meeting of the Joint Waste Disposal Board, Members asked Officers to investigate options for recycling flexible plastic packaging and as a result Sarah had been talking to the Flexible Plastic Fund ‘FlexCollect’ Project which a small number of Councils were currently trialling. The FlexCollect team were currently looking for more Councils to take part in the trial and Officers have expressed an interest on behalf of the re3 Partnership. A meeting has taken place so that the Delivery Manager for the project could visit the MRF (Material Recycling Facility) and a discussion could take place about the practicalities of sorting, storing and reprocessing the waste.  These tests would be undertaken in the coming weeks and subject to the outcomes of testing in the MRF further discussions would take place with the waste collection teams to identify a potential trial location. If the trial were to proceed, then the packaging would be collected in the Councils current kerbside recycling provision.

At the January 2023 meeting, Members agreed to retain the booking system at the Recycling Centres. A variety of ways to supplement the booking system were discussed at this time such as translation. As a result, translation went live in February 2023. An example of this was provided to the board. Concerns were raised that google translated wasn’t always accurate however the benefit was that many languages could be provided, and if internal Council translation facilities had been used, then there was only a total of 6 languages that would have been provided. An FAQ had been provided on the re3 website stating that there may be some errors. Contributors would look at some of the translations of key languages within the Borough.

In 2022, DEFRA funded a project to examine whether there was a link between a

national increase in fly-tipping and the use of booking systems at recycling centres, which was also something that had been discussed by re3. An external company conducted surveys and interviews with local authorities and re3 Officers contributed information about the experience of the partnership through these routes. Fly-tipping statistics were also examined in detail for six local authority areas. A report was published in January 2023 setting out the findings and conclusions from the project.

The report noted that no academic literature was found which provided evidence of a

link between fly-tipping and booking systems. The report would be circulated to the Board.

Following on from the presentation from the re3 Contractor and discussions at the January Board meeting about the current reuse activities undertaken at the re3 facilities and the potential for future expansion to divert items from the waste stream. Members were presented with a list of options to be explored further:

• Repair workshops

• Upcycling

• ‘Libraries’ (Through which a range of items could be borrowed).

• Permanent reuse shops (for instance at an offsite location)

• Online reuse shops

Currently all Councils had a repair café which was a good position to be in. Monica Bulmer was keen for there to be a repair strategy and work collaboratively and promote the repair cafés.

As a result of increased costs, Officers had reviewed the prices being charged for

disposal of non-household waste at the re3 recycling centres. Current prices were designed to recover the cost of handling and disposing of nonhousehold waste and were non-profit making. A table with the proposed price increases was included within the report which included an increase of soil and rubble to £3 per 35L bag for all users. Any agreed changes to the charges would be implemented from 1 April 2023. Changes to the prices would be updated on the re3 website, site signage and the booking webform.

Toilets and sinks would fall under the charge for rubble, Officers were unsure on the collection of these and would look into these.

Councillor Jones stated that he didn’t want to increase the cost of soil and rubble for residents and wished to remove it all together in time. However, there were concerns that the cost would then be picked up by others. It was suggested that a report be brought back to the Board regarding the implications of the charges and what the impact of the removal of the charges would be. It was agreed by the Board that Soil and Rubble would not increase to £3 for residents, and a report would be brought back to the board.

The statistical results of the Annual HWRC User Satisfaction Survey had been presented to the meeting of the Joint Waste Disposal Board in January 2023. Since then, the comments had been analysed. A summary of these were included in the annex to the report. Alongside the comments a list of actions had been complied, a number of which has already been completed or underway.

Members had previously agreed to relaunch the community compost scheme with the bags of re3Grow left over from the 2022 project in Spring 2023. It was proposed that the bags this year be allocated on a first come first basis relaunches, Officers

recommend that this year the compost be allocated on a first come-first serve basis, subject to the applicants meeting the advertised criteria.

Members and Officers discussed the agenda setting requirement that had been proposed as part of the Audit completed in 2022. It was proposed that one member from each Local Authority be nominated to attend the agenda setting meeting and for this to be an online meeting. It was suggested that this be held closer to the meeting date to ensure that everything was dealt with at a meeting closer to the next board meeting.

RESOLVED that

i.       Members indicated how they would like Officers to proceed in relation to the potential introduction of banks for the collection of small electrical appliances, as described at 5.15.

ii.     Members indicated which of the reuse options, listed at 5.33, they would like Officers to explore further, with the intention of returning to a subsequent re3 Board meeting with proposals.

iii.    Members reviewed the proposed revisions to charges for non-household

waste, shown at 5.37, and confirm that these should be implemented to deliver full cost recovery apart from the increase to residents for soil and rubble, where a report would be brought back to the board.

iv.    Members instructed Officers to allocate compost under the relaunched

community scheme, on a first-come, first-served basis, subject to appropriate allocation between the councils and the fulfilment of the agreed criteria.

v.     Members agreed a date for a first agenda setting meeting as described at 5.50 to be set before the next meeting.