Agenda item

North Warwickshire

Richard Dobbs informed the partnership that North Warwickshire was dealing with more waste and increased contamination in their red bins, although this contamination was non-target material due to a new reprocessor; work was being done to improve this. North Warwickshire were also having fuel issues and had a HGV driver shortage including issues with hiring new drivers and retaining their current drivers.

Nuneaton & Bedworth

Glen McGrandle informed the partnership that Nuneaton & Bedworth also had a HGV driver shortage so they had to restrict their garden waste service. Nuneaton and Bedworth were in the final stages of their round reconfiguration and looked at the impacts of increased waste and planning developments. Glen McGrandle stated they were costing and analysing for their future waste collections for the next four years. The waste enforcement contract ends in January 2022 so it was being reviewed to improve how fly tippers were prosecuted. They were looking at potentially moving to a commingled recycling service, a quick survey was done with residents who preferred this approach. Glen McGrandle concluded that they were still looking at acquiring hybrid and electric dust carts.

Rugby

Dan Green stated that Rugby was having the same issues as Nuneaton and Bedworth with HGV drivers and green waste but they were additionally struggling with agency staff loading waste onto their vehicles; therefore their resources were being scrutinised as there were new housing developments that needed to be accommodated too. Rugby had enough fuel for their vehicles but there were issues with fly tipping and litter which Councillor Lawrence was prioritising. There was a recent resident climate survey with 500 responses, most people were concerned about carbon, heating, and home energy but waste was a high priority too. An online climate summit was held on the 18^th September and there were actions to pursue following this with their climate emergency working groups.

Stratford & Warwick

Julie Lewis (Head of Environmental and Operational Services) informed the partnership that in both districts there were issues with overflowing bins and litter, but they responded that people’s behaviours should change, and they should stop fly tipping. Julie Lewis stated that the districts new strategy was not formalised because some things were deliberately changed in the contracts and it was going to be complicated to turn it into a formal strategy. The new waste contract had been agreed and at the time of the meeting there were no HGV driver issues, they were within budget but due to the decrease in competition, contract prices were rising. Stratford and Warwick were receiving reports that their fly tipping rates dropped slightly, and the recycling and residual levels were beginning to drop to pre-COVID levels. Julie Lewis concluded that that there will be a lot of work mobilising the new contractor.

Warwickshire

Ruth Dixon informed the partnership that waste campaigns (including food) for the autumn were being planned and they were thinking towards the Christmas campaign. The procurement papers were completed for road sweeping and Ruth Dixon thanked the borough and district colleagues for their help with the specification. Warwickshire did a soft marketing campaign for food waste which gained interest from local organisations; this will provide work to go into the specification for August 2022.