Issue - meetings

(a)       That the proposed changes to the Council Waste Collection be endorsed; and

(b)       That the Cabinet Member and Officers be requested to have regard to the comments made by Members during the discussion.

The Head of Streetscene introduced a report to inform Members of the proposals to review and update the Council’s Waste Collection Policy. 

He detailed the background to the report and explained that recycling was still a significant challenge for the authority.  The municipal waste target for 2015/16 was 58% and this year the Council was currently achieving 57%.  The Head of Streetscene reminded Members that the cost of not achieving the targets was extremely high and that failing to meeting the target by 1% could result in infraction charges of £400,000 for that year alone.  The Sustainable Waste Management Grant was decreasing each year and the targets were increasing so it was good practice to review the processes and policies in place.  The following were reported as changes to the policy:-

• Household Recycling Centres (HRCs) had now been incorporated into the policy
• curtilage collections
• restricting garden waste bins to two per property
• continuation of side waste
• provision of a new HRC site in Sandycroft resulting in the closure of Saltney and Queensferry once it opened
• opening times amended to take account of footfall levels at the sites
• van owners with a Van Permit limited to Greenfield and Mold sites

            The Head of Streetscene explained that areas which had high amounts of side waste would be monitored and where issues were identified, an action day would be set up in the area to educate residents on what could or could not be recycled to encourage them to recycle.  Visits from officers may also be required and enforcement action would be undertaken as a last resort.  He explained that plans for the new site in Sandycroft, which now did not include steps, would be submitted to Planning in March 2014. 

            Councillor Nancy Matthews expressed concern about side waste and queried whether reports could be submitted to future Committees about the levels of side waste to allow the Committee to monitor whether it was reducing.  She welcomed the provision of the van permit scheme at two sites and queried whether the permits would be available at the Alltami depot in future.  The Head of Streetscene advised that he could provide a summary about side waste in his six monthly performance report to the Committee.  It was intended that the van permits would be available at Alltami and that renewals could then be undertaken through the Contact Centre. 

            Councillor Colin Legg raised concern about the number of complaints he had received from residents about collections of waste during the Christmas period.  He also asked if a smaller bin for residents who lived alone could be considered and queried why other authorities such as Liverpool asked that all waste be placed in one bin and not separated into recyclable/non-recyclable waste.  Councillor Legg also asked that thanks from residents be passed on to the refuse collectors. 

            In response, the Head of Streetscene said that the number of complaints during the Christmas period was very low, which was encouraging, and that a 99.3% collection was now being  ...  view the full minutes text for item 56