Agenda item

a)    That Cabinet acknowledges and notes the outcomes of the modelling work undertaken on restricting the capacity of residual waste collections; and

b)    That Cabinet supports a transition to the most effective service delivery model of retaining a comprehensive weekly recycling collection service and reducing residual waste collections to once every three weeks while retaining the 180L black wheeled bin to realise maximum recycling performance increase, greenhouse gas emission reduction and cost reduction.

Councillor Dave Hughes introduced the report which outlined the modelling work undertaken and present the proposed collection model to be adopted by the Council in order to achieve the statutory target of 70%.

From 2024/2025, the statutory target for the amount of waste prepared for reuse, recycled and composted had increased to 70%, having previously been set at 64% in the preceding years as part of Welsh Government’s (WG) “Beyond Recycling” Strategy.  However, as a Council, Flintshire did not manage to achieve the previous statutory target of 64% in any of the preceding four years and, without significant service change, would not meet the 70% target required by 2025. This could lead to further significant financial penalties being imposed by WG, which were already expected to be in excess of £1million for 2021/22 and 2022/23.

Following the public consultation in early 2024 and the Council’s adoption of the Resource and Waste Strategy in March 2024, a recommendation was approved by Cabinet to consider a further report in June 2024 to outline the Council’s transition to a restricted capacity residual waste collection model, which was committed to in Priority Two of the Strategy and recognised as an effective method of reducing residual waste and maximising recycling collected.

To support with this, the Council engaged with WRAP Cymru, Local Partnerships and their consultants, WPS and CRS, to undertake a modelling exercise to simulate different residual waste collection methods for the purpose of identifying the optimum model for:

1. maximising recycling potential and improving performance.
2. reducing the impact on the environment by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
3. reducing operational costs

The Chief Officer (Streetscene & Transportation) outlined the modelling outcomes and reported that the modelling exercise had identified that Option 2a (180L black wheeled bin collected 4 weekly - 5 day working week (45L capacity per week)) achieved the highest performance increase at 5.9 percentage points, against the Enhanced Baseline.  The greatest restriction on available weekly residual capacity resulted in the highest diversion of food and dry recycling from the residual stream, while the 4-weekly collection frequency meant that captured was maximised. 

The Chief Officer also reported that the proposals set out for approval by Cabinet were not supported by the Environment & Economy Overview & Scrutiny Committee. 

The Leader proposed an amendment to the recommendation that residual waste collections be reduced to once every three weeks while retaining the 180L black wheeled bin.  This was supported by Councillor Hughes.

Councillor Healey said that whilst the four weekly model provided the maximum savings, reduced emissions and offered the best opportunity to meet the increased statutory targets set by WG, he supported the proposals to move to a three weekly collection and said that the findings outlined within the report that 58% of the waste found in the black bin could be recycled was unacceptable.

Councillor Bithell said that this was a difficult decision to make but outlined the dilemma the Council found itself in due to the possible infraction fines being faced and the need to demonstrate to WG that the Council was doing its level best to meet the increased statutory targets.  He also outlined the efficiencies which would be released and assist with the current budget gap. 

Councillor Bibby spoke in support of the amendment from the Leader which he said was a pragmatic compromise.

The Chief Executive reported that the overall objectives of the proposals were to reduce the number of recyclable items placed in the black bin and thanked residents who continued to recycle all possible items.  The environmental impacts of not recycling were well known and the impacts to climate change were significant, and in order to make a positive contribution for future generations it was important that the Council improve recycling rates.

The Corporate Finance Manager reported that the Revenue Budget Monitoring report detailed significant financial risks and that the decision to move to a three weekly collection would reduce the amount available to be mitigated and therefore the levels of reserves would reduce.  This would also reduce the projected contribution to meet the budget gap, which would have to be met by other decisions.  There was also an increased risk around the infraction fine and the £1.2m compound impact had not been included in the budget and would need to come from the reduced contingency level of reserves. 

The Chief Officer reported that there were no proposed changes to recycling and food collections.  The Council provided a comprehensive kerb side collection, and those services would continue.  A great deal of work had been undertaken around communication with residents, attending events and projects being drawn up for the collection of waste at flats, HMO’s which would deliver significant benefit.  The modelling showed that three weekly collections would generate 66% of recycling collection which did not meet the revised statutory target of 70% set by WG.

The Chief Officer also clarified that the proposals to move to a 5 day working week would be retained as part of the amended proposal and that a report outlining the implementation and communication plan would be presented to Cabinet in the autumn. 

RESOLVED:

(a)       That Cabinet acknowledges and notes the outcomes of the modelling work undertaken on restricting the capacity of residual waste collections; and

(b)       That Cabinet supports a transition to the most effective service delivery model of retaining a comprehensive weekly recycling collection service and reducing residual waste collections to once every three weeks while retaining the 180L black wheeled bin to realise maximum recycling performance increase, greenhouse gas emission reduction and cost reduction.