Agenda item

To consider a report by the Waste and Recycling Manager (copy enclosed) which seeks the Committee’s views on the proposed new services, including the service design, indicative costings and funding, and a proposed communication strategy with residents

11.10am – 12.10pm

The Lead Member for Waste, Transport and the Environment introduced the Waste and Recycling Manager’s report and appendices (previously circulated) the purpose of which was to update members on the latest funding position for the project along with information on the delivery timescales and associated projects.  During his introduction the Lead Member advised that although Appendix II to the report highlighted a project delivery timescale up to 2022, that this referred to Financial Year 2021/22 and that, based on current progress, he had every confidence that the new service would be up and running by September 2021.

At the Chair and Vice-Chair’s request the Waste and Recycling Manager provided a PowerPoint version of Appendix III to the report which illustrated the proposed new Central Depot Layout, which would be located in Denbigh.  She gave the Committee an overview of the layout and functions of all the separate areas that would make up this six acre site and the environmental, fire and other regulatory restrictions that required to be complied with during its design and development.

Responding to members’ questions the Lead Member, Head of Highways, Facilities and Environmental Services and the Waste and Recycling Manager:

• advised that no decision had yet been taken on the design of the Trollibocs containers that would be purchased and rolled-out, as a number of new manufacturers had recently entered the market.

• confirmed that the present Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs) did not form part of this particular project, and that any discussions surrounding their future would be part of a separate process.  The contract for operating the HWRCs was due for renewal in March 2021 therefore a re-tendering exercise would commence in the near future.  As part of the re-tendering process income generation opportunities, including those for charitable organisations, from the sale of good quality household ‘waste’ could be explored.

• advised that despite the fact that the proposed central depot site being an area of six acres it would not be large enough to accommodate the relocation of the current Denbigh HWRC to the same site as there were proposals to include an area to treat highways waste on the central depot site in due course, subject to the approval of a separate business case.

• advised that environmental regulations meant that the only waste material that could be unloaded in the open air was glass, all other waste would have to be unloaded under cover in purpose built buildings.

• confirmed that the entire depot area would require to be compliant with strict noise, odour, contamination and fire regulations, with some waste treatment practices, particularly those involved with Phase 2 of the project – highways waste treatment requiring permits from Natural Resources Wales (NRW) prior to commencement.

• advised that under the new household waste collection system food waste would continue to be collected at the same time as other waste and then would be transferred from the Denbigh depot to the Food Waste Recycling Centre at Rhuallt.

• advised that whilst up to 90 vehicles could be accommodated on the staff parking area at the proposed depot, this number did take into account car sharing which already took place.  The Council was aware of its duty to reduce carbon emissions hence a number of vehicle charging points would be located in the car parking area for electric vehicles.  In addition staff start times at the depot would be staggered between 6am and 6.45am, with refuse vehicles leaving the depot from 6.30am onwards.  The potential for providing transport to staff to and from work had been explored and could be looked at further.  All transport related matters on the site would be subject to a highways and transport assessment as part of the planning application process.

• confirmed that none of the current empty sites on Colomendy Industrial Estate were large enough to accommodate the proposed depot site.  In addition the Council was currently in the process of purchasing some of the land in order to put in place a suitable access point for the development. The benefits of purchasing this particular plot of land was two-fold, it would facilitate the development of the new depot and also unlock over 20 acres of development land that would secure the future of a number of successful businesses on the Colomendy Industrial Estate by providing them with room to expand.

• confirmed that the monetary value of ‘waste’ was extremely low at present, but government targets and regulations required local authorities to recycle and treat more waste and reduce its use of landfill.  Due to greater public awareness of the environmental damage of single-use plastic (SUP) and the potential introduction by government of a deposit and return scheme (DRS) people’s habits were likely to change which could result in the amount of plastic waste reducing, although this may be counteracted by the increase in population.  Discussions were currently underway between central government and local authorities on how the latter could capitalise on the introduction of a DRS.

• advised that many sites in the county had been considered as part of the process for locating a purpose built depot, this particular location was central and had good access to all areas of the county.  Given time neighbouring local authorities may wish to use Denbighshire’s purpose built facility.

With the Chair’s permission a member of the public in attendance was given an opportunity to address the Committee on her concerns in relation to the new waste and recycling service model.  She was of the view that residents liked, valued and understood the current co-mingled blue bin recycling service and had concerns about the stability and ease of use of the proposed Trollibocs system, particularly for disabled or elderly residents.  Whilst she had been reassured during the discussion that the new system would not be an added cost burden on the Council Tax payer she requested that county councillors draw all residents’ attention to the changes and the reasons behind them.

In response officers advised that:

• a variety of communication methods had been utilised for the purpose of drawing the proposed changes to residents’ attention thus far, as illustrated in the Communications Plan at Appendix IV to the report, these included a survey, drop-in sessions, radio, press releases, the Council’s website and social media pages etc.

• one of the benefits of the proposed new waste and recycling model was that it would help to alleviate a current budgetary pressure in excess of £1m, which could in turn ensure that any future council tax rises may be lower than they would otherwise have to be if the service change was not implemented.  This is because the new waste model will cost less to run that the current waste model.   

• the Council’s Citizens Panel would be involved in the engagement on the type of Trollibocs to purchase and roll-out.

• they acknowledged that the co-mingled ‘blue bin’ system was popular with residents and had served its purpose, but central government requirements were changing and residents’ recycling practices were improving therefore the fortnightly recycling collection was no longer sufficient to meet demand.  The Trollibocs system would see the introduction of a weekly recycling collection and no extra charge would be levied on those households that required additional recycling containers.

Lead Member and officers agreed with members that the Council’s recent monitoring exercise to identify households that did not place out their orange food recycling caddies for collection on a regular basis had gained widespread media attention.  Current monitoring was done by the collection crew and was labour intensive and not completely accurate, hence the decision to trial new technology to monitor food recycling collection rates.  The aim of this approach was to help educate residents of the benefits of recycling food waste and to help boost recycling rates.  The trial would run in four areas, covering about 600 properties, between November 2019 and at least March 2020.  It was estimated that currently approximately a quarter of the county’s residual waste was made up of food waste, therefore to reduce this amount it was important for the Authority to understand why some residents continued not to use the food waste recycling scheme provided.  Primarily the aim was to educate people, enforcement action was a last resort.  The provision of animal proof reusable sacks was being explored for use in places like multi-household properties, these sacks could then be placed in a large communal food-waste holder for collection.

At the conclusion of the discussion the Committee:

Resolved:

(i)   subject to the above observations, to acknowledge the progress made to date by the Waste Project Board with a view to securing the delivery of the new Waste and Recycling Service to residents from September 2021;

(ii)  that the Head of Highways, Facilities and Environmental Services returns to a future meeting of the Committee to provide an update on the outcome of the pilot projects being undertaken to increase capture of recyclable waste across the county, as outlined in Appendix V; and

(iii)that the Head of Highways, Facilities and Environmental Services brings a future report to the Committee to propose the Benefits Realisation Plan to be put in place to monitor the environmental, financial, employee and customer benefits of the new waste operating model.