Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies were received from Councillor Proctor.

There were no declarations of interest stated.

To consider the Minutes of the previous meeting.

Resolved:     That the Minutes of the meeting held on 12 April, 2018 be

                        agreed as a correct record.

Members who had joined the group from May, 2018 had visited the material recycling facility based in South Staffs together with looking at a comingled collection operation again in South Staffordshire and had found it to be a very useful experience.

Report to follow.

The Council’s Head of Recycling, Waste and Fleet Services – Mr Andrew bird informed Members of the results of the Recycling Residents Satisfaction Survey.

Members were advised that the survey was still running but the figures given only went up to 13 June.

The survey showed that three-fifths of those who had taken part were dissatisfied with the current service.

Councillor Robinson enquired whether the wards showing the highest level of dissatisfaction had been compared with those showing the lowest to see what, if anything was being done differently.  Mr Bird explained that nothing was being done differently and that it was down to the reliability of service in the different areas.

Members were informed that, within the last month, collections had been more reliable and that the tonnage collected had increased.  However, there was a clear indication that residents were unhappy with the current box type collections.

Members enquired as to where the survey had been publicised and were advised that it had been on the Council’s website.  It was requested that a reminder be done to residents to bring in a larger sample of respondents and that paper copies be issued to Customer Service Centres and a couple of copies given to every Councillor to hand out.

Resolved:     That the information be received and the comments noted.    

Report to follow.

Members were asked to consider options for future garden waste collections.

Staffordshire County Council will within the next twelve months be withdrawing recycling on a sliding scale over four years, and will only reimburse the Borough council for the cost of treatment.  Reduction in recycling credits for garden waste material will have a financial impact upon the Borough Council.  Members were asked to consider three options, outlined at paragraph 3.2 of the report for the future provision of garden waste collections. 

Councillor Robinson was totally opposed to the introduction of charges for the service and sought assurance that any consultation on this would be carried out effectively.  Councillor Robinson also suggested that introducing a charge would increase instances of fly tipping.

Members considered the outsourcing of the service which would create a saving to the Council.  Members asked if residents would be charged for the collection of garden waste if it was outsourced and were advised that they would and that the amount could possibly be more than the amount estimated by the Council. 

Darren Riley a Team Leader/Driver for the Council stated that he currently paid a similar amount for an additional garden waste bin.  Mr Riley also stated that the preference was to keep the service ‘in-house’.

Members asked whether outsourcing would mean job losses and were advised that no job losses were foreseen and that any  outsourcing would be subject to TUPE negotiations.

A request was made to receive comparisons from other authorities that had introduced charges or outsourced their garden waste collections before any decisions were made.  A list of pros and cons for each of the options was also requested.

Resolved:     (i)         That the financial implications be noted.

                        (ii)        That more information be brought to a future meeting

before making recommendation to the Cabinet.

Presentation by Head of Recycling and Fleet Services.

Members received a presentation on options for recycling and food waste collections.

There are three potential recycling collection methods operating in the UK.

Members were advised that, since the introduction of food waste collections the tonnage had decreased.  This was a positive effect as residents had been able to see how much food was being wasted and had adjusted accordingly.

The presentation looked at a two stream recycling system, where paper and card would be kept separate, with the rest comingled in a bin and a fully comingled collection system, where everything is collected in a single wheelie bin,.. looking at the advantages and disadvantages of both systems

A modelling analysis was shown outlining the number of vehicles that would be required for each of the options.  Option 1b would require the least number of vehicles.  Mr Bird stated, that the figures presented come with a warning, that they result from high level modelling, which presents an indication of likely costs. 

Mr Bird drew Members attention to the high level costings that had been prepared for each potential new service option. Whilst these were subject to more detailed modelling work, they gave an indication of the differences in revenue costs for each type of service being considered as well as how they compared  to the cost of the current service. Further work will be carried out to refine these costings and will be reported back to the next meeting.

Councillor Robinson asked if funding was in place for any new vehicles that would be required if the service was changed.

In four years’ time the current fleet would need replacing.  However, if Members wished for the service to be changed sooner, the money would have to be found.

Councillor Robinson also queried whether shared services with authorities operating the same scheme could be considered?  This scheme had been adopted by Lichfield and Tamworth.

Members would receive a copy of the presentation to enable the figures to be looked at in greater detail.

Resolved:     That the information be received and the comments noted.

Group discussion.

It was felt that there was a need to find out what other Staffordshire authorities were doing and this could be extended to Shropshire and Cheshire.

In addition there needed to be wider discussion on the national picture.

The next meeting would be held on Thursday 30 August, 2018 at 2pm.