Minutes:
Julie Lewis summarised that:
· The new waste collection service started on the 1st August after 18 months of preparation
· It was a new joint service across Warwick and Stratford. The changes were greater for Warwick District residents than Stratford’s
· The residual waste collection went to three weekly (180l bins in Warwick)
· Warwick residents now had a charge for the garden waste service
· Comingled recycling was brought in for Warwick District residents with 240l bins provided
· Both districts had new food caddies and these were collected weekly
· BIFFA were awarded the collection contract
· One of the biggest issues was the nationwide HGV driver shortage
· There was a problem with vehicle parts as these were made in Ukraine, so three weeks before the new collection stated there were no food fleet vehicles
· A fire at Pure meant that they needed somewhere else for their dry recycling to go
· By the end of July most of these issues were resolved
· Since the launch and by the time of the meeting, over 287,000 bins per week had been collected
· Residents on social media complained that their bins had been missed but the success rate of collection was 99.39%
· Most issues were caused by the introduction of food waste collection
· Subscriptions for garden waste collection at Warwick were a lot higher than anticipated, Stratford’s remained stable. Both were above the national average
· A new app was launched to communicate how bins were put out and 17,000 residents in both districts have signed up for it
· One contact centre (at Stratford) dealt with queries
· 1200 tonnes of food had been collected after eight weeks which was expected
· There was a lot more residents taking up the food waste collection offer than expected, especially in new housing estates. This was good and bad because it stopped food waste going in the general waste, but it showed that there was a lot of food waste
· There were not many complaints about the three weekly residual waste collection.
· Social media did not show the positive that people were thinking about where their waste was going
· Not a lot that would/could have been done differently
· A lot of crews did not want to do the food waste collection, so Biffa offered a pay increase to staff who would do this
· Permitting was brought in for people entitled to additional bins
In response to Councillor Sinclair, Julie Lewis stated that they brought in food waste collection for two reasons, it will be made statutory by central government, and it removes it from the other bins. It will be easier to demonstrate the economic benefit than the environmental one; however, 106,000 miles were saved annually with this contract. The impact on both districts will be reported back to the partnership including the potential impact on tonnages (after it had been implemented for a full quarter).
In response to Councillor Bell, Julie Lewis said that they used podded vehicles when this system was implemented in Daventry, so it was the same vehicle as the one that collected the garden waste or dry recycling. There was not an issue with the drivers there. Most people used compostable bin liners, but they did not need to. The unprecedented hot weather made it more difficult for drivers to endure the food waste especially in full PPE. Some residents claimed that the separated food waste collection caused a maggot infestation, but the waste collection just made them more visible (because they were not buried under other waste). Food bins were missed if they were hidden behind the bigger ones.
Andrew Pau noted that the food waste collection tonnages should decrease in Autumn but will peak around Christmas. The planned contract for the processing of separately collected food waste did not materialise as planned, so a 12-to-18-month contract was implemented with Seven Trent for their site at Coleshill. The food waste is put through an anaerobic digestion process.Andrew noted that so far the new service has collected less residual waste than the previous services over the same period last year.
Julie Lewis added that out of the new 16-vehicle food waste fleet they only initially had five vehicles because the rest were caught up in Ukraine. Some of the hire vehicles could not get into the HWRCs, and half the hire vehicles broke down in week one.
Councillor Grainger noted that there seemed to be a few residents who had their collections missed repeatedly and there were issues with BIFFA staff leaving. She added that some who complained about maggots on social media were told by other residents what they should have done to avoid them. Julie Lewis added that when the Queen died all complaint calls reduced.