Agenda and minutes

Councillor Margaret Bell

Dan Green who has been substituted by Anton Cuscito

Members are required to register their disclosable pecuniary interests within 28 days of their election of appointment to the Council. ?Any changes to matters registered or new matters that require to be registered must be notified to the Monitoring Officer as soon as practicable after they arise.

A member attending a meeting where a matter arises in which they have a disclosable pecuniary interest must (unless ?they have a dispensation):

•        Declare the interest if ?they have not already registered it

•        Not participate in any discussion or vote

•        Leave the meeting room until the matter has been dealt with

•        Give written notice of any unregistered interest to the Monitoring Officer within 28 days of the meeting

Non-pecuniary interests relevant to the agenda should be declared at the commencement of the meeting.

The public reports referred to are available on the Warwickshire Web https://democracy.warwickshire.gov.uk/uuCoverPage.aspx?bcr=1

None.

None.

The minutes were approved as a true record.

In response to the Chair, Andrew Pau stated that during the first year of Covid-19, a lot more waste was produced at home, even though there was more recycling and composting, and the performance numbers went slightly backwards. Residual waste levels have increased compared with the previous year at the end of Q3. The increase in residual waste has resulted in increased landfill and energy recovery.

In response to Councillor Alan Rhead, Andrew Pau clarified that the report’s statistics come from the collection authorities and county council. Councillor Rhead said that the household waste recycling centres (HWRCs) should be open longer.

Following a query from Councillor Ian Shenton, Andrew Pau stated that the statistics should be accumulative and directly comparable between the three quarters. Andrew Pau agreed to review the statistics in the report to make sure the correct numbers were obtained.

Andrew Pau stated that the tables show Warwickshire’s overall tonnage rates collected by the authorities and HWRCs before Covid and the pandemic years so far. There was a small decrease in the biowaste collected which impacted the overall recycling and composting rates slightly. The prediction was 48.5% for recycling/reuse/compost rates in 2021/22 which was a decrease from 49.5% in 2020/21. The increase in residual waste has been seen as a trend nationally. Kilograms of all waste per household (including recycling/reused/residual) decreased slightly.

The Chair noted that the residual waste statistics needed to be monitored especially as people will continue hybrid working which could mean the continuation of increased waste for example from home deliveries.

In response to Councillor Kathryn Lawrence, Julie Lewis stated that Stratford did extra collections to catch up after the fire at the Pure MRF and there was no collection disruption for Warwick.

Andrew Pau informed the partnership that Warwickshire was ranked 9^th nationally in the LA recycling league table in 2020/21; the previous year Warwickshire was 8^th. Stratford ranked 9^th nationally for the recycling/composting rate for collection authorities in 2020/21.

Councillor Rhead stated that the falling performance figures needed to be addressed, the Chair concurred and suggested looking at what the other high performing authorities were doing. Andrew Pau stated that the new waste collection service in Stratford and Warwick should help performance, and the other authorities in Warwickshire could look at implementing their own service changes.

Julie Lewis presented a power point and highlighted the following points:

• Stratford and Warwick’s waste collection contracts with BIFFA and SUEZ will end and a new collection service will commence in August 2022
• A lot of pre-procurement work was done to see how the services in Stratford and Warwick were delivered
• Outsourcing waste collection services was found to be the most effective delivery model following the pre-procurement work
• Stratford and Warwick agreed to have a joint waste collection service in December 2020 which will be carried out by BIFFA following a competitive procurement from August 2022
• Separate food waste collection will be statutory following the new Environment Bill
• Services for increasing recycling and reducing residual waste and the carbon footprint were investigated
• Compulsory recycling and charging for excess residual waste are not in local authorities’ powers under current legislation
• Food and residual waste collections must be free for households
• Residual waste collection for both authorities will move from two-weekly to three-weekly
• Warwick will go from kerbside sorted recycling to comingled - all recycling in one wheeled bin
• Food waste will be collected separately on a weekly basis for both authorities and garden waste collection will be chargeable
• The move to comingled recycling was possible because of the new MRF (material recovery facility) that all waste collection authorities in Warwickshire have invested in; the new MRF allows the collection and recycling of tetra pack across the County
• The first council newsletter on the new service went out early March 2022, as well as this there will be briefings, roadshows, bin hangers and information booklets are due to go out soon
• Information was not shared too early to prevent public confusion, because this would not come into effect until August 2022
• There will be a new ‘Cloud 9 app’ (which Rugby already use) which sends out a push notification to residents the day before their bin collection to tell them which bin to put out
• Communication needs to be simple to understand, but frequent. The information booklet will contain lots of pictures, so it is easy to understand
• Stratford residents will get their information booklets first because their food waste bin caddies will be delivered first. All information after this will be the same for both authorities
• The booklet will say what should go in the kitchen caddie/food waste bin and what should go in the other bins
• Small electrical items and textiles will be taken for recycling, this will be an additional service for Warwick
• Evidence showed that having a comingled recycling collection with one wheeled bin will increase recycling rates, as things like cardboard boxes will not need to be cut up any more
• No compostable or recyclable waste should go in the residual waste bins
• The information booklets will be posted through everyone’s letter box
• FAQs on the new collection service are available online
• A collection calendar will be provided for 2022/23 but afterwards all the information will be done through the app
• When this type of collection service  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

Ruth Dixon presented a power point and highlighted the following points:

• In December 2021 a customer satisfaction survey was carried out on site at all of Warwickshire’s HWRCs, the survey was carried out over several weeks
• A survey with the same questions also ran online in December and January. There were a similar number of responses in both surveys
• The questions asked recorded the customer’s experience at the HWRCs
• Respondents were happy with the queuing times (93.5% satisfaction)
• The online survey was anonymous, so it was expected that customers would respond in more detail and be more willing to criticise regarding their experience
• The in-person survey was done in November/December 2021 after a lot of improvements had been done to the booking system
• The in-person survey covered the experience at the HWRCs that visit, whereas the online survey covered visits since May 2020, potentially before improvements were made to the booking system
• Areas that could be improved like signage and staff training will be worked on
• Information for each individual site would be in the final report
• Same-day booking was available from October 2021, this was reflected in the in-person survey
• Few people found booking difficult and 70.1% of people who visited HWRCs since May 2020 would support the booking system remaining
• 190 people surveyed had not visited a HWRC since May 2020, most said this was because they either tried to book and could not, or the fact that they had to book put them off from visiting. 19% of them said they would support the continuation of the booking system
• This meant overall that 66% of people surveyed would support the continuation of the booking system
• Availability at sites was monitored daily; Hunters Lane in Rugby was the busiest site in Warwickshire, but there was still a 20% availability
• Afternoon spaces were the most available to book

In response to Councillor Rhead, Ruth Dixon confirmed that they did not ask if people wanted the HWRCs to be open longer because opening times had already been decided on by elected members. HWRCs in Warwickshire were open 9:30-15:15 on weekdays and 8:30-16:45 on weekends; in the summer these weekend times are extended by an hour and on Wednesday PM sites are open until 18:30. There was no evidence of a rush to book slots in the afternoon, in fact most people book up in the morning and afternoon slots are usually available to book on the same day.

Following a supplementary statement from Councillor Rhead, the Chair said that extending the hours would be a matter of cost, but extending these hours would also need to be down to a justified need. She stated that fly tipping does not increase when the HWRCs are closed.

Councillors Lawrence and Shenton asked for the details from their local HWRCs (Hunter’s Lane and Burton Farm).

In response to Councillor Shenton, the Chair said that the booking system would remain as long as residents were happy with it and it was justifiable;  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

Andrew Pau stated that some of the consultation results should be published either before the Purdah period for the local elections or after the elections; another consultation was expected after this publication. Central government was committed to progressing with the three ‘pillars’ (extended producer responsibility, deposit return scheme, and consistent recycling services). Central government also focused on food waste, and they renewed their verbal commitment to food waste being collected weekly and they stressed the connection to energy and energy security. Most food waste is expected to be sent for anaerobic digestion which produces gas, which can be burned to produce electricity or put onto the gas grid.

Richard Dobbs presented a power point and highlighted the following points:

• Some trees identified as part of the ecological survey were relocated before development
• Clegg started work in May 2021, they did earthwork to make the land flat (30,000 cubic metres of earth was moved)
• The three main structures were up (in feed hall, process hall and out feed hall) and steel cladding was on the roof. PV (photovoltaics) will go on the roof too
• At the time of the meeting the bays for the offices, material reception, and storage were being installed
• The MRF will be painted green to look less intrusive
• Machine X will build and install the processing equipment with the first robot being completed in February 2022, the company were building robots they had not built for anyone else
• Pick rates for robots that are less sophisticated than the robots that will be in the MRF were impressive
• Richard’s team will attend the factory acceptance testing to make sure Machine X are building what they need
• The MRF will be the Sherbourne Recycling company and part of a wider business. Policy and procurement work was being done to make this business
• The Environmental Agency needs to approve the permitting requirements before waste is accepted
• A big recruitment exercise was planned to try and get the next level of management and supervision in place before the final recruitment for the rest of the workforce
• In July 2022 there will be a nine-month placement with a Warwick University sustainability undergraduate, to help with the technical aspects. Local universities would be worked with to continue this placement and get local expertise
• The local community were being updated with the MRF’s progress and how it will promote sustainability and help climate change. The aim was to get the community involved in the MRF
• Progress with finding outlets for the material that would be produced was good, as the MRF will produce material not on the market anywhere else
• The MRF will produce raw material as a product to markets for producers to use in their products
• Producers wanting to buy this product now were mainly UK based which will be good for the MRFs reputation as well as sustainability and climate change credentials
• Tom White were being discussed with about a bespoke haulage solution for the MRF, this should be agreed late spring 2023
• Vehicle movement would be monitored closely to ensure net zero emissions where possible
• Smarter transport should increase the MRF’s capacity because vehicle movements take up half of its capacity
• The main construction will start in Summer 2022
• The storms in Spring 2022 and Covid-19 caused disruption in the MRF’s development i.e. with the global supply chain, drivers, demand for materials etc.
• 70 contractors were on site at any one time doing their jobs like pouring concrete, putting up secondary steering, implementing the private wiring that links the MRF to the waste disposal company next door
• The power connection will be implemented in Sumer 2022 along with  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

North Warwickshire

Richard Dobbs stated that North Warwickshire were able to restart their green waste collection service a week early which was initially suspended because of Covid-19 and the HGV driver shortage. 

Nuneaton & Bedworth

Glen McGrandle informed the partnership that they managed to relocate all their workforce during the high winds. Training was a key priority, and they are planning to alter how training was offered, switching to a fortnightly ‘toolbox’ approach. Operatives were being trained to drive the refuse vehicles when they were short on drivers. The enforcement contract being let for January was going well. Fly tipping investigations were planned to give resilience in terms of the enforcement moving forward and it would be in line with the resources and waste strategy. Some Covid-19 restrictions were being phased out in conjunction with health and safety and senior managers. NBBC had been working with Coventry regarding the refuse worker strike to offer resources within the confines of the law and to work with residents to try to mitigate any service disruption.

Glen McGrandle and Councillor Sue Markham praised the work of officers at Coventry City Council for their work and help during the refuse collector strike.

Warwick & Stratford

Julie Lewis said that following a restructure, Craig Bourne had been promoted to be (Joint) Environmental Operations Service Manager for Stratford and Warwick Districts. Most work was being done on the 1-2-3 system rollout and answering questions on this; social media messages were being promoted to push out this new service. Warwick will charge for green waste collection from the 1^st August 2022 (£20 for August 2022-March 2023) with the bins going on sale from the 1^st May. Stratford District had awarded their street cleansing contract to BIFFA and this had to be separate from the waste contract as this was now joint between the districts; this will start on the 1^st August 2022. Garden waste collection in Stratford had gone up £2 and they had over 18,000 subscriptions, 91% of these came through online.

Warwickshire

Ruth Dixon stated that they had success with their e-newsletter as thousands of people were reading/interacting with articles and reading posts. Interaction through Facebook increased over Christmas during the Christmas campaign. Compost workshops have been planned in each district or borough with an extra one for Warwick District because of their change to a chargeable garden waste service. These will run from March until May 2022, but more would be put on if they are popular in a specific location. Information on these can be found here:

https://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/green-waste/composting/6

Information was also available online for people who are unable attend the workshops in person.

Tenders for the procurement for the food waste treatment contract for Stratford and Warwick would be submitted on March 25^th. An evaluation process would then take place to decide the winning bid. The road sweeping and gully waste contract was going well. Glass needs to be reprocured for the HWRCs from April. Waste electricals and electronic equipment  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

Andrew Pau stated that there was good representation from all areas including councils, businesses, and voluntary organisations at the summit as well as protesters. He also raised the following points:

• Roughly 40,000 tonnes of carbon was produced annually in the county by collecting waste
• Recycling and composting carried out by the local authorities in Warwickshire brought this down to zero
• The county council made a carbon impact with the fuel used to run lorries to the HWRCs. These lorries are diesel powered
• The county council burnt about 200 tonnes of carbon with their own fleet. This meant that the county council’s overall carbon impact was roughly 4500 tonnes

In response to Glen McGrandle, Andrew Pau confirmed that the figures were just usage figures and modern lorries would have better emission rates then older ones; a newer fleet would improve these figures. Hydrogenated vegetable oil (HVO) was being investigated as a fuel. Richard Dobbs added that Stratford, Warwick and North Warwickshire were planning to move some of their fleet to HVO soon. They were waiting for Crown Commercial to publish HVO sales as part of their framework and stating that HVO should not track the price of diesel. Richard said it would be good for all of Warwickshire’s authorities to sign up for this because this could influence the supplier to reduce their prices. The Chair praised this idea.

Ruth Dixon informed the partnership that:

• As part of the climate change program, schools were spoken to via a survey asking them

·    What current environmental activities were they doing?

·    What different schemes were they already involved in?

·     What assistance do they need in general?

·     The survey had 40 responses at the time of the meeting, but more were desired 

The Chair suggested an item on the approach of fly tipping countywide as she was often asked about it. This item should include causes, actions, what was being done and what needed to be done. She suggested inviting the EA for this item.  Glen McGrandle said a countywide approach for enforcement would be good for consistency. Andrew Pau praised the work done at Nuneaton and Bedworth regarding fly tipping and suggested that this item should come to a meeting when officers have the resources to address it (perhaps the Autumn) as currently a lot of work is taking place to set up the new service in Stratford and Warwick.

Glen McGrandle suggested looking at waste carrier registration and environmental permitting too.

The Chair suggested that the landfill figures should be reviewed along with the energy recovery figures due to the rise in residual waste.

Waste composition data.

15^th June 2022

28^th September 2022