Agenda item

This report provides a summary of performance on the Medway waste contracts and performance for the contract year October 2019 to September 2020:

Veolia Environmental Services – providing waste disposal services for residual and recycling waste.

Medway Norse – providing waste collection, street cleaning services and management of Medway's Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRC).

Discussion:

The Committee received a comprehensive report on the activities carried out by Veolia Environmental Services on the waste disposal service for residual and recycling waste and Medway Norse for the provision of waste collection, street cleaning services and management of the three household waste recycling centres for the contract year October 2019 – September 2020.

The Head of Environmental Services presented the report and in doing so, thanked the teams for the work undertaken during the Covid-19 pandemic. This appreciation was echoed across the Committee throughout the debate.

Andy Mann, Partnership Director from Medway NORSE attended the meeting to answer questions.

The Committee discussed the following issues:

• Provision of litter bins in greenspaces – The Committee requested whether there was scope to increase the frequency of emptying litter bins located on greenspaces. Over the past 12 months with people staying local and increased use of greenspaces for exercise some litterbins were often full and overflowing.

The Head of Environmental Services informed the Committee that the contract for the clearance of park litterbins was included under the Greenspaces contract and work had been planned to combine contracts to make this service more effective and efficient. However, this work had been delayed due to the need to concentrate on the provision of other services during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Andy Mann from Medway Norse informed the Committee that the frequency of litterbin clearance was tied into the Service Level Agreements and was discussed at monthly meetings. To increase the frequency of litterbin clearance in one area may have implications on the frequency of collections in other areas. However, he was willing to continue dialogue on the Service Level Agreements to establish whether there was scope for increasing the frequency of litterbin emptying where considered necessary.

It was suggested that if any Member had a particular issue in their Ward, they notify officers and this could be investigated. It was also suggested that consideration could also be given to utilising Ward Improvement Funds for additional litterbins.

The Committee suggested that one alternative may be to consider installing larger litterbins in areas where the bins were heavily used.

The Head of Environmental Services informed the Committee that the next report on Waste Services was due to be submitted in October 2021 and this would cover the period affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and would therefore show the impact upon waste collection through this period.

• Possible retention of the booking system at Household Waste collection sites - In response to a question as to whether the booking system at household waste collection sites could be extended beyond the Covid-19 pandemic, the Head of Environmental Services informed the Committee that the system was working well and was essential to ensure that the facilities could remain open safely at the current time. A customer satisfaction survey was due to be undertaken in April which would feed into future consideration as to whether the booking system should continue into the future.

The Committee was further informed that there were now few days that the household waste collection site slots were fully booked as use of the service tended to be seasonal. Hourly booking slots had now been introduced across all sites which had increased the number of slots available and individuals were permitted up to four booked slots across a 4 week period. Unfortunately, whilst there were occasions where individuals failed to attend their pre-booked slots sites the majority informed the service if they were unable to attend.

• Garden and food waste recycling – In response to a question, the Head of Environmental Services explained that garden and food waste was recycled for agricultural use.

• Bulky waste and flytipping – The Committee requested whether there was a link between the reduction in bulky waste collections and increases in flytipping. In response, the Head of Environmental Services referred to a recent briefing note which provided full information on flytipping along with flytipping hotspots and confirmed that there were no direct links between the bulky waste collection service and flytipping. She confirmed that the bulky waste collection service was currently working at full capacity which showed that people were prepared to use it and bulky waste collection charges in Medway were less than those levied by other local authorities.

• Weekly collection services – The Committee expressed its full support for the retention of weekly collection services.

• Circular Economy package and recycling rates - Referring to pages 87 and 88 of the agenda, concern was expressed that in 2019/20 the recycling rate had risen from 42.8% to 46% but that the target had been reduced from 46% to 38% in 2017/18. This was not in line with the Circular Economy Package which was a nationally recognised figure and which committed the United Kingdom to national recycling rates of 50% by 2020, 60% by 2030 and 65% by 2035.

In response, the Head of Environmental Services confirmed that the predicted recycling rate in Medway could now be confirmed at 46% for 2019/20. She informed the Committee that the recycling of mattresses through the Mattress UK trial had significantly contributed to the recycling rate with 93% of mattress materials being recycled. The 50% target imposed by the Circular Economy Package was a national target but had not been imposed on local authorities. This was a challenging target but she gave an assurance that the Council was striving to increase recycling wherever possible.

In response to the reduction in the target rate from 46% to 38% in 2017/18, she explained that this has been a direct result of loss of a number of end markets at that time, in particular for plastics and mattresses but these targets were always open for review.

• Use of Electric vehicles – The Committee sought information as to whether electric vehicles or ultra low emission vehicles could be introduced to the fleet as and when vehicles were replaced.

The Head of Environmental Services confirmed that this issue was under constant review and was relatively easy with smaller vehicles. Options were continuing to be investigated for the larger fleet vehicles as this was an evolving area. This was also an issue included in the Council’s Climate Change Action Plan.

Andy Mann from Norse confirmed that any small fleet vehicle replaced since 2020 had been replaced with an electric vehicle.

It was suggested that Members receive regular updates on the programme of fleet replacement either through the Climate Change Action Group or by way of a Briefing Note to this Committee.

• Organic waste collection – The Head of Environmental Services informed the Committee that the organic waste collection contract was due to run until 2025 and that work would commence in 2023 for the procurement beyond 2025 at which point the existing collection services would be fully reviewed. She confirmed that Medway was proud of its weekly waste collection service and whilst the levels of organic waste fluctuated through the year due to the seasonal nature of garden waste, the organic waste service also included food wastage and therefore people were encouraged to use the service for their food waste.

• Flytipping– In response to a question as to whether CCTV could be used at sites known to be flytipping hotspots, the Head of Environmental Services informed the Committee that this matter would need to be addressed by the Council’s Enforcement Team.

Andy Mann from Norse informed the Committee that Norse were responsible for the collection of bulky refuse and whilst Norse had cleared some small areas of flytipping, this was the responsibility of the Council’s Enforcement Team as they could investigate the source of the flytipped materials.

• Community Spring Clean-ups – In response to the suggestion that consideration be given to Community Clean-ups aimed at assisting recycling by households that did not have access to a car, the Head of Environmental Services informed the Committee that this initiative had been undertaken in Cuxton but had proved to be expensive as much of the materials bought to the community clean-up could not be recycled.

Where possible, people were encouraged to take items to the household waste recycling centres by car-share or by donating items to local charities or recycling via social media.

Decision:

The Committee:

a)             expressed its appreciation to all staff within the various teams operating the waste collection service and in particular, for the excellent service that they have provided over the past year during the Covid–19 pandemic.

b)             noted the content of the report including the Annual Service Reports set out at Appendices 1 and 2.

c)             noted that the Democratic Services Officer will supply a copy of the recent Flytipping Briefing Note to the Member concerned.

d)             requested that the Committee receive an update on the findings of the customer satisfaction survey due to be undertaken at Household Waste Recycling Centres in April.

e)             noted that Ward Councillors have been invited to submit to officers sites where they would benefit from an increase in the frequency of litterbin emptying.

f)              requested an update on the programme of replacing vehicles within the fleet to electric or ultra-low emission either by way of information via the Climate Change Action Group or by way of a Briefing Note to this Committee.

g)             noted that the issue of potential use of CCTV cameras at flytipping hotspots will be referred to the Council’s Enforcement Teams for investigation.

In accordance with Council rule 12.6, Councillors Browne, Mahil and Andy Stamp requested that their votes in favour be recorded.