The Chair invited the officers to brief the committee of updates in their districts and boroughs. All officers thanked their fellow officers from the other districts, boroughs and county for their help during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Richard Dobbs repeated that North Warwickshire is fully operational after suspending their green bin collection and the tonnage implications which resulted from this. Capacity had increased above the normal rate as more collections were needed to service households. Due to the increase in home workers, Richard Dobbs stated they do not know how they will be able to decrease these rounds which will lead to cost and capacity issues. The garden waste charge that was due to be implemented on the 1st June had been postponed until April 2021. Residents of North Warwickshire could obtain an extra green bin until the end of June 2020 with a new service reflecting the capacity issues commencing in July. Richard Dobbs added that the new ‘cab’ technology that was due in September had been delayed. Recently they had struggled with disposing recyclables as their recycle rates had increased by 20% and their refuse collectors have reduced staff and their waste capacity due to social distancing. Richard Dobbs concluded that they are making progress towards opening Warwickshire’s own material recycling facility which they are planning to open in 2023.

Glen McCrandle informed the committee that Nuneaton and Bedworth had focused on keeping services going and utilising internal resources to ensure all waste services worked as normal. Risk and safeguarding measures have been implemented with large waste collection along and seven daily reviewed jobs. All operations, depots and offices will be risk assessed so staff can work safely. He reiterated that household recycling increased by 20% and street cleaning operations are place. Council officers are working from home in localised areas and commercial waste services had reduced their work by 30% due to closed businesses, but this will return to normal. Discussions are being held with Nuneaton and Bedworth’s enforcement partner to reinstate patrols; this should be between four to six weeks after a risk assessment. Glen McCrandle concluded that their garden waste scheme had received positive feedback, and the climate change emergency meetings had recommenced; this included reviewing their waste collection fleet to have electric or hybrid vehicles.

Jim Perkins stated that Rugby suspended their bulky waste collection for two weeks due to the Covid-19 pandemic but all their services were running as normal despite challenges with the tonnage. The two-metre rule will not be relaxed, safety measures have been updated but logistical changes had been halted. The new waste collection vehicles had been delayed due to Covid-19 halting manufacturing across Europe; however, they should arrive July or August 2020. Jim Perkins concluded that there have been 620 more green subscriptions since 2019-2020.

Becky Davis, Recycling Development Officer for Warwick District Council stated that they are tendering contracts to start in April 2021 with bidding and contracts being awarded in September. Textile collection had been suspended due to the state of the market and textile processors were not willing to take materials from kerbs. All services have continued to run apart from a two-week suspension in green waste collection. Resources had been increased across all services due to the tonnage increase of 30 collections to 77 weekly. Becky Davies thanked the county council for providing taxis for workers so they could carry out their waste collection rounds. Zoe Court had been appointed the new contract services manager.

A discussion followed between the officers about waste collections starting at six in the morning rather than seven.

Angela Lloyd, Streetscene Lead Contracts Officer for Stratford-on-Avon District Council, informed the committee that charges for garden waste collection had been paused until 1st March 2021. Throughout the pandemic, all services had continued but side waste had not been collected due to limited capacity, but this will be relaunched softly on the 6th July. There were 43 collections one day to collect bulky recycling and extra vehicles were needed. Angela Lloyd stated it had been tidier in lockdown, but bins were overflowing with litter. Fly tipping had increased slightly on a smaller scale, but it will reduce again.

Ruth Dixon, Waste Strategy and Commissioning Manager for Warwickshire County Council praised the booking system for notifying the public, so they were aware of what to expect. There had also been an increase in social media followers, newsletter subscribers and more viewers reading waste’s online posts; not all posts are Covid-19 or recycling centre based and include food and waste reduction. Home composting information had been provided online which increased viewing numbers and interest from 150 to 600 views. Face to face home composting workshops should resume in September. Ruth Dixon added that home composting equipment sales had been good, and these are now being sold at the recycling centres.

In response to Councillor Kondakor, Ruth Dixon stated that composting sales had been ongoing online. Bins cannot be bought from Junkins and they were sold at Nuneaton Town Hall and Bedworth Civic Hall; they could also be bought at Lower House Farm or Hunter’s Lane. Following questions raised by Councillor Kondakor, Andrew Pau raised that the wood contract involved the wood collected at the household waste recycling centres and ensured that the wood collected is recycled or burnt for fuel. Andrew Pau continued that the paint contract is due to be retendered; this will process hazardous paint that is collected from the household waste recycling centres. The public have been asked to gift their unwanted paint or dry it out to make it hazard free.

Resolved

That the Warwickshire Waste Partnership acknowledges the updates on the various waste activities taking place in each area since the last partnership meeting in January 2020.