Minutes:
Andrew Pau summarised the following points:
· All the statistics in this paper come from the boroughs and districts and WCC. This is shown at every meeting.
· Total household waste had dropped by 23,000 tonnes since last year. Waste reduction schemes carried out by the partners and external factors, possibly the cost-of-living crisis, caused this.
· The overall recycling, reuse and composting rate was up. Composting levels were down in terms of tonnage as 2022/23 had a very dry summer. They are expected to be higher in 2023/24.
· The amount of kgs of residual waste per household had reduced.
· The dry recycling rate was not as high as the Councils would like it to be, but it was good that the overall recycling/reusing/composting rate was 50.6%, as it was expected to be below 50%.
· Landfill rates were reducing.
· The HWRC recycling rates were not as high as the Council would like them to be.
· Trade waste is not included in the report as it is not household waste.
In response to Councillor Tim Sinclair, Andrew Pau stated that historically people bought less in economic hardships.
In response to Councillor Sue Markham, Andrew Pau said that rates were up despite tonnages being down was because this was relative to the overall waste arisings.
Following a supplementary question from Councillor Margaret Bell, Andrew Pau noted that the tonnage decreases on things like ‘energy from waste’ were high and the 9% decrease in overall waste was high.
Ruth Dixon clarified that the percentage in the report showed the point change so it should not add up.
Andrew Pau added that landfill waste was solely made up of household waste; the aim was to keep this below 10% which they were actively managing.
Julie Lewis noted that the landfill rate did not take the number of households in Warwickshire into account; especially in Warwick District which had the most households.
Councillor Sinclair requested figures from prior to 2021 and suggested that once a year the second table be in graph form.
Ruth Dixon informed the partnership that Warwickshire ranked 11/33 in terms of recycling rates for disposal authorities. Stratford and Warwick Districts were 22nd and 32nd out of 210 waste collection authorities for recycling rate. However, this was old information, it is predicted that SDC may be back in the top 10 for 2022/23.
An updated set of statistics and comparison data will be presented at September’s meeting.
SDC and WDCs waste collection
Julie Lewis summarised that:
· SDC and WDC have a joint waste collection contract with Biffa and a new 1-2-3 + waste collection scheme. Food waste is collected separately and weekly, recycling is collected fortnightly and residual waste is collected every three weeks. There is an opt-in paid-for fortnightly garden waste collection.
· WDC had the biggest changes, changing from a kerbside sort recycling collection to a single comingled wheelie bin and introducing garden waste subscription as well as the changed also introduced in SDC, as above.
· In WDC the residual waste bin capacity is 180 litres. In SDC, households have kept their 240 litre grey bins but replacement bins are now 180 litres.
· Before the introduction of the system, some residents raised concerns that their residual waste capacity would be too low. However, there is now high satisfaction with the new system and residual waste has dropped with the three weekly collections in 180l bins (3).
· WDC did not need to separate their dry recyclables anymore and it now comingles in one bin every two weeks (2).
· The Councils do a weekly food waste collection as it was expected to become government legislation. This was also to remove it from residual waste. Indoor caddies and outdoor bins were distributed to every household in the two districts (1).
· Both authorities have charges for green waste collection which is an optional add on (+)
· 1-2-3 + started in August 2022.
· When the Councils started there were issues as there was a driver shortage, new collection vehicles were stuck in Ukraine because of the war and inflation with wages was an issue.
· Statistics show that residual waste is falling monthly. This is in part because of the weekly food waste collection.
· The only issue with the food waste collection was that not every resident got their bins in time for the first collection.
· Recycling rates increased more at WDC then SDC, as predicted.
In response to Councillor Bell, Julie Lewis confirmed that they had to buy separate food waste collection trucks. Originally a separate pod on the normal collection vehicles was proposed like at Daventry but this was not he preferred option for the refuse collection companies bidding for the contract. In the run-up to the service change, residents were given a hard copy calendar showing when each bin would be collected. Now there is an app (Cloud 9, which is also used by RBC) which tells residents which bin needs putting out; calendars are still available online.
In response to Councillor Carolyn Watson-Merret, Julie Lewis noted that when food is separated it makes people realise how much they are wasting, and the councils are aiming to increase food waste reduction at the same time as capturing for recycling all of the food waste that is generated.
Following a question from Councillor Sinclair, Julie Lewis said that they would print and send out calendars for residents who request them. Some households qualified for 240 litre refuse waste bins like households with six adults, households with more than two children in nappies or medical needs. They would need to request these, and the use of these bins would be under review. Households have to pay for additional bins but not the service.
In response to Councillor Lorraine Grocott, Julie Lewis clarified that households could have requested additional recycling bins when the new system started and still can. The council will pick up side recycling too because they want to encourage recycling.
Andrew Pau noted that the three weekly collections made people think what they were doing with their residual waste. This improved Stratford and Warwick’s household waste statistics and recycling rates.
Julie Lewis added that Stratford and Warwick’s garden waste rates had decreased a lot last year because of the dry summer. It varied annually so it could not be added to the dry recyclables rates.
In response to Councillor Sinclair, Councillor Richard Baxter-Payne said that garden waste could not easily go to an anaerobic digestion facility centre because a different licence would be needed for this. If a digester was going to make energy from food waste, then its contents had to be solely food waste. It would also affect the biproducts. Therefore, garden waste could not be mixed with food waste in an anaerobic digester.
Andrew Pau added that wood and twigs were not good for anaerobic digestion.
Julie Lewis stated that one of the reasons they separated food waste was because it used to go in the garden waste bin. Separated it could go to WCC’s selected anaerobic digestion facility.
Supporting documents: