Invitees:

Cllr C Reeves - Cabinet Member, Communities

Cllr HM Williams – Cabinet Member Resources

Mark Shepherd, Corporate Director Communities

Andrew Hobbs, Group Manager Street Works

The Corporate Director Communities introduced a report on the progress made on the procurement for the provision of residual waste and recycling collection services and the provision of services as the Council’s Community Recycling Centres.  He stated that changes were being made to waste management arrangements in order to meet the performance targets for recycling set by the Welsh Government, due to there being significant penalties imposed on local authorities where targets were not met.  This was set against the context of the contract with the current contractor, Kier   ending on 31 March 2017.  He informed the Committee that the Council has one of the most cost effective waste collection contracts in Wales, but one of the most costly waste disposal contracts in Wales. 

The Corporate Director Communities informed the Committee of the timescale for the procurement process in that tenders for the provision of waste services are due to be returned in mid-August 2016, a contractor would be appointed in the Autumn followed by a period of mobilisation in order to allow the contract to start in April 2017.  He stated that Cabinet at its meeting on 26 July 2016 had agreed a period of consultation on whether to allow dispensations for households with a high number of occupants and households disposing of ash from coal fires.  He stated that a dispensation for the disposal of pet waste had been ruled out.  He also informed Cabinet it was proposed under the new contract, that all requests for service and complaints are referred directly to the contractor in the first instance.        

The Committee discussed what implications the recent vote for the UK to leave the EU would have on the pressure to meet recycling targets and asked officers if this would have an impact on the targets set as they were primarily driven by EU legislation.  Officers responded that the Welsh Government has tried to push Wales ahead of the rest of the UK in that it had set a target of zero waste by 2050, officers did not envisage the referendum result affecting the targets.  The Cabinet Member Resources informed the Committee that Wales wanted to lead in Europe in how it dealt with waste and that up to a 1/3 of materials currently sent to landfill could be composted or recycled.      

Members questioned how the parameters for the tenders for the new waste provision could be set when there was a consultation still ongoing.  Officers responded that the two bag limits had been set and would not change, with tenderers bidding on that basis.  The 8 week public consultation that would be launched on the 2 August would be a consultation on a dispensation policy for larger families with occupants over 6 people.  Members were concerned about the fairness of the process and felt there was a risk the Authority would be open to challenge.  Officers responded that what was being proposed was consistent with other Local Authorities where there are restrictions on residual waste.   

Members questioned how the Authority would engage with residents during the three month bedding in period in April 2017.  Officers stated that the Authority would take a sensible approach and plan to educate residents first before taking enforcement action.  Officers would be door knocking and speaking with residents who were not complying with the two bag limit and giving advice on how to increase what they recycle in order to reduce their residual waste.  If residents still do not comply after the three month bedding in period then the Authority would take enforcement action.  During the first 3 months of the contract the contractor will take what is presented to them at kerbside and after that period enforcement action be taken.  Officers were looking at how other local authorities deal with enforcement action.   

Members asked if the tender for the new contract included picking up the litter that was often left behind after the collection days.  Officers stated that the new contractor would be asked to collect rubbish and recycling that was left out on collection days and any litter left that was in the vicinity associated with the collections, i.e. split bags, boxes tipped over.  Refuse collectors would not be expected to collect all litter on the streets.  The Head of Neighbourhood Services informed the Committee that it was more expensive to employ refuse crews than litter picking crews and that the litter picking rounds did not mirror the refuse collection rounds.       

Members asked how the Civic Amenity Sites would be managed under the new contract.  Officers stated that the contractor would define the manning levels at the sites.  The public would still be able to take household rubbish and recycling to the centres but would need to sort their rubbish into the appropriate containers to ensure that all items were recycled where possible.  The contractors would have clear targets to reach and would be penalised if the targets were not achieved.  Members suggested that clear bags could be provided.

The Committee requested that consideration be given to providing larger recycling boxes / containers and bags to enable residents to recycle more and their recycling could be secured more safely to prevent recyclable material being wind-blown.  The Head of Neighbourhood Services informed the Committee that the specification of recycling boxes / containers and bags had been left quite open in the tender documentation to enable tenderers to come up with proposals.  The options proposed by tenderers would also be dependent on the types of vehicle used to collect recycling.    The current stock of containers had been offered to the tenderers. 

The Committee questioned the means by which large households would be identified under the dispensation proposals and how would pet waste be managed.  The Corporate Director Communities informed the Committee that pet waste would be placed in black bags and that the Council is already aware of the location of larger households.  The Head of Neighbourhood Services informed the Committee that the Welsh Government had identified that approximately 49% of waste is recyclable and there was a need to change public behaviour so that more food waste is recycled. 

The Scrutiny Officer stated that a query had been raised by a member of the public requesting details of the process for disposing of medical waste and how this would be dealt with.  The Corporate Director Communities informed the Committee that there is already a clinical waste and sharps collection process in existence.  The Head of Neighbourhood Services informed the Committee that there is also a separate collection service for absorbent products and this service is also planned to be included in the future contract

Members asked how Officers planned to address the potential increase in fly tipping due to the new restrictions on residual waste.  Officers responded that there is a trend for a small increase in fly tipping initially but this tended to be during the first few weeks of a new scheme.  Officers added that most fly tipping in the Borough was down to trade waste. 

Members were concerned at the proposed management of complaints whereby they would be managed by the new contractor and would complaints received by the contractor be hidden from the Council.  Officers responded that the process would be audited by the Authority and that by allowing the customer to go direct to the contractor they could potentially have an immediate response to a query.  Officers added that if the new contractor was not performing well, they would directly feel the pressure from the public.  The Head of Neighbourhood Services informed the Committee that the contractor would be expected to provide monitoring information and there would be financial penalties put in place based on the contractor’s performance.  He informed the Committee that at present complaints about the waste service were channelled through the Council’s call centre which would in turn place the call through to the Waste Team who would then contact the contractor to resolve and rectify the problem.  He stated that the Council would soon know if the contractor is performing badly, the new arrangements for complaints being dealt with by the contractor would be self-motivating to the contractor, although there were some risks in terms of transparency. 

The Committee questioned whether a dispensation for waste generated by households would be granted at Christmas.  The Head of Neighbourhood Services informed the Committee that there would be no dispensation granted at Christmas as most packaging and food waste is recyclable.  He stated that contractors would be scored during the contract evaluation process based on being able to recycle more types of materials.         

Members questioned how collections in communal areas would be managed.  Officers responded that residents would be issued with uniquely identifiable bags and would be provided with enough so that they could use 2 per fortnight.  If households put out more than their allocation then they would run out of bags further down the line.  The Head of Neighbourhood Services informed the Committee that educating households and enforcement will be key to the success of the new waste service contract.  The Corporate Director Communities informed the Committee there had been significant interest from potential contractors in the tender process although it was not known how many companies would tender. 

The Committee thanked the invitees for their contribution.       

Conclusions

The Committee recommended the encouragement of a more adequate system for the recycling of household materials in the form of larger bags/ boxes / containers for recycling so that residents will be able to securely store their recycling and increase what they recycle.  The Committee believed that this would actively encourage residents to recycle more of their materials instead of sending to landfill.  The Committee promoted being able to recycle more items in order to achieve targets set by Welsh Government.

Members recommended that the tenders for the new Waste contract include providing residents with clear bags so that any additional recycling that households have could be taken to the recycling centres in the clear bags provided and recycled.

Members were concerned at the current staffing levels within the Communities Directorate as indications were that further cuts would be a significant detriment to services.  The Committee therefore wished to put forward a strong recommendation that no further staffing reductions were imposed on the Directorate.

Members strongly supported the three month ‘bed in’ period and the engagement process proposed with residents but expressed concerns over how this engagement would take place.  Officers suggested for example that this could be ‘knocking on doors’ and talking with residents; however Members questioned how this would be possible given the current staffing level.  The Committee commented that investment in this ‘bed in’ period was essential in order to educate the public on the new changes.

Further Information

Members requested further information on the uniquely identifiable bags that would be issued to residents to coincide with the new two bag limits.  Questions were raised over how potential issues would be managed and resolved such as:

• What if a bag splits, would residents be able to get additional bags?
• What if they do not receive a delivery of bags when they are due or they are missed out when they are delivered?
• Is there somewhere residents will be able to go to collect replacement bags if they run out?

Members would like more information on how Officers came to the conclusion of a dispensation policy for families of 6 or more residents. Members asked why residents with a household of 5 were to be given the same allowance as someone that lived alone and raised the question of whether or not this would be open to public challenge in terms of fairness in the policy.

The Committee asked for further information on any restrictions that would be put on recycling.  For example if recyclable materials would not fit inside the boxes would they be left as they are now?  Would residents be able to recycle black plastics as part of the new scheme?