Issue - meetings

(a)          That the Committee noted the Council’s current recycling performance against statutory targets.

(b)          That the Committee noted the options for alternative waste collection delivery models and recommended to cabinet that a pilot scheme be undertaken to inform decision making in order to achieve the statutory recycling targets set by Welsh Government.

That the Committee considered the proposal for increasing the garden waste subscription fee to recover increasing operational costs

The Chief Officer (Streetscene) presented the report and thanked the officers for the significant amount of work they had undertaken.   Three reviews of the Waste Strategy had taken place within the last 5 years with the current fourth review focusing on the Council’s drop in performance levels and achieving those targets to avoid financial penalties.   Welsh Government (WG) set the statutory targets for local authorities and the Council followed  the blueprint with one of the targets being 64% for this year and 70% by 2024/25.  The aim was to send 70% of all the waste generated to reuse recycle or compost with the remaining residual waste 30% sent to an energy from waste plant. 

            The Chief Officer (Streetscene) provided information on the performance levels over the last few years, the impacts following the pandemic and the options available to meet the statutory targets.  She then referred members to specific sections of the report and outlined the legislative background and targets set by WG and performance levels achieved by the Council.  Information on the infraction fines was given, which were highlighted as a significant risk to the Authority.  In 2021-2022 the recycling target has been missed by 3,314 tonnes, which could equate to a potential infraction fine of £662,888 if WG choose to levy a financial penalty. 

            An overview of the meeting held last year with the Minister was provided by the Chief Officer (Streetscene) which followed a drop in performance the previous year in 2020-2021 of just 17 tonnes and the Chief Officer (Streetscene) indicated that it was likely they would be summoned again this year to explain why the authority had missed its targets in 2021-2022.   This was a significant risk to the service as there was no budget to cover that level of fine and it could impact on how services would be delivered in the future.  She then referred members to page 19 which included a forecast on performance for this year , which showed that if the authority continued at this level of performance, it would equate to 63.17%, falling short of the target by 622 tonnes with a potential infraction fine in excess of £124,000.  An overview of the tonnages achieved over the summer and winter was provided which was not recovering with residual waste increasing.  Recycling rates had increased, but so had residual waste, which did not help with achieving targets.  Information on the Sustainable Waste Management Grant was provided by the Chief Officer (Streetscene), who advised that WG were considering whether to potentially bring this into a circular economy grant which would present additional financial risks for the Authority.  Members were referred to the table on tonnage rates on page 20 and Appendix 2 which included the slides from the Member workshops and a comparison of Flintshire’s performance against other authorities with those local authorities at the top and achieving the targets limiting the amount of black sack waste households could dispose of.   In Flintshire households were provided with a 180-litre bin allowing  ...  view the full minutes text for item 44