Agenda item

Ruth Dixon presented a PowerPoint on the strategy refresh. The following points were raised:

• The strategy is for the waste authorities in Warwickshire to plan on how all waste is managed
• The strategy provides information on future objectives, progress and communication with stakeholders
• The next strategy will be influenced by the National Waste Strategy (extended producer responsibility (EPR), deposit return scheme (DRS) and consistency in collections)
• The circular economy will feature in the new strategy development. Local authorities are the statutory undertakers of waste (collected at either kerbside or at household waste recycling centres and fly tipping waste) until the waste is disposed/recycled. This must be as environmentally friendly as possible
• Local authorities need to protect their environment, local authorities do not have influence over what they receive or where it goes, but can influence the way that householders and businesses manage their waste, how much they reduce/recycle/compost
• With the new strategy, industry must make sure that their packaging is easily recyclable, as small and lightweight as possible, reduce single use waste
• The new regulations will come in with the Environment Act. The draft regulations should be released before April 2022
• It was proposed that an officer TFG (task and finish group) be set up to look at past and projected data, present events, work towards future legislation and produce a scoping document and what the strategy should be

In response to Councillor Shenton, Ruth Dixon stated that they will not know how other local authorities responded to the consultations, but the government first responded to them in August 2021 where they stated how each model would work. Andrew Pau added that he was under the impression that most local authorities responded similarly to Warwickshire’s joint response. It was believed that the House of Lords will send the Environment Bill back to the House of Commons which would delay the implementation of the bill. Andrew Pau concluded that both the waste industry and local authorities were consulted with for the new strategy; businesses were lobbying against some elements of the strategy. The Chair added that she had been contacted by the glass industry over the government consultation.

In response to several points raised by Councillor Bell, Ruth Dixon stated that different environmental agencies pushed for the contents of the Environmental Bill; the government were in favour for this. Other countries who already do EPR and DRS did not have the comprehensive recycling kerbside collection that the UK had; for local authorities this would be moving waste to a different place. Local authorities would not get money from the DRS and shops who operate the DRS have the responsibility to return the money to the consumer; any leftover could be given to local authorities and Warwickshire would have the MRF. Following a supplementary from Councillor Bell, Ruth Dixon stated the DRS will work by scanning the container’s barcode and each country in the UK may want to do it differently. Andrew added that some details may change between now and implementation.

Richard Dobbs (Corporate Director – Streetscape) confirmed that the new MRF would be sophisticated enough to tell what materials are from barcodes. Due to material from smaller outlets, the industry will grow around collecting and cleaning material from the DRS and waste from other commercial outlets. The MRF industry will take a role in sorting new materials used in the DRS but this new role will not be known until the strategy becomes law.

In response to Councillor Shenton, Ruth Dixon stated that the government would want to remain aligned with the EU’s directives with waste; Wales already had ambitious targets and England would not want to fall behind them.