Agenda item

(a)       That Members of the Committee note the report and the progress made within the service since the service review in March, 2012;

(b)       That the Committee be supplied with financial information for the service outlining savings; and

(c)        That the Committee notes the positive achievements of a near 60% recycling rate.

The Chair advised the Committee that the following item referred to the Review of the Council’s Waste Collection Service and not the Review of the Council’s Waste Strategy as stated in the agenda.

                        The Cabinet Member for Public Protection, Waste and Recycling introduced the report to update Members on the progress made within the waste collection service, six months after the service review.

            The Cabinet Member for Public Protection, Waste and Recycling said that there had been initial problems after roll out in November 2011 and that service levels had improved on a month to month basis.  The issue of missed collections was the main concern of residents and this equated to 20-30 missed collections per 100,000 collections. It was hoped that performance would be further improved with the introduction of an electronic notification service to confirm that waste collections had been made.  This would be rolled out in January after an initial pilot with assisted collection rounds.  The Cabinet Member for Public Protection, Waste & Recycling said that in Quarter 1, Flintshire had achieved a recycling rate of just under 60% which was the second highest rate of recycling for a Welsh Local Authority during the period.

            The Head of Streetscene said that of the 30 recommendations highlighted in the Action Plan, all but three were on target.  There was an ongoing review into the use of sticker notifications on bins, the side waste issue was ongoing and negotiations were ongoing with the software supplier of a queue notification service on the telephone contact centre.  New weighted blue and white bags for recyclables were now available and had received good feedback. 

   The Cabinet Member for Public Protection, Waste and Recycling reported that a new service had been introduced for flats which involved a smaller “scatter” vehicle.  Saturday collections have been piloted and would be expanded following consultation and subject to availability of vehicles and funding.  Side waste continued to be an issue and officers would visit and advise residents who persistently left side waste.  The managed weekly collection service was anticipated to deliver a further £245,000 of efficiencies in 2012-13. The existing Household Recycling Centres are to remain

Councillor H. D. Hutchinson thanked the Cabinet Member and Officers for their report.  He asked if there had been any new refuse crews in the Buckley area as he had received reports that the service levels had dropped.  Councillor Hutchinson voiced concern at the crew’s practice of leaving food bin lids open after they had been emptied.  The Head of Streetscene said that operatives would be reminded about the need to leave bins tidily with the lids shut.  He said that he was not aware of a new team in the Buckley area and added that new members would be introduced one at a time into established rounds.  He advised members to contact him or Harvey Mitchell if they became aware of any issues.

Councillor C.A. Thomas said that collections could be missed in rural areas if the operatives were given house names only.  She said that hand held consoles sometimes lost their charge and that the contact centre should provide addresses for the rounds.  Reports had been received of bins replaced in the middle of driveways and the practice of large numbers of bins being gathered in one spot in a road for ease of collection by the vehicle.  Councillor Thomas said that this had resulted in the wrong bins being returned. She asked if the budget could support the Saturday rounds and new vehicles.  The Cabinet Member in response said that operatives were told to replace containers and bins as they had been found and that they had sufficient time to complete their rounds, so they did not have to cut corners with their work.  The Director of Environment said that the budget monitoring report which went to Cabinet recently showed that the delayed introduction of Single Status had been compensated by income from extra recyclates.

Councillor P.J. Curtis said that supervisors must monitor time taken to complete rounds if they cannot be completed in the allocated time.  He said that the Action Plan points were good, but will take time to complete.

CouncillorN.M. Matthews thanked the Cabinet Member and Officers for their report.  She asked if operatives who worked on Saturdays and Bank Holidays received premium payments.   The Cabinet Member for Public Protection, Waste said that time and a half payments are made for Bank Holidays and Saturdays because Part 3 negotiations had not been completed.  Councillor Matthews asked if a target be considered to eradicate the use of bin bags inside bins as they took a long time to decompose in land fill.  The Cabinet Member Public Protection, Waste and Recycling said that bin bags keep the insides of the bin clean.  The Director of Environment said that residents were free to purchase and use bin bags inside the bin if they wished.  The Cabinet Member for Public Protection, Waste and Recycling and the Director for Environment agreed to give the suggestion further consideration.

Councillor D. Evans expressed concern that the use of missed collection technology could result in arguments between the council and residents.  He asked if further types of plastic containers could be recycled. The Head of Streetscene said that items would not be recycled if there was not a market for them.  Councillor Evans commented that there were not consistent service standards at the various Household Recycling Centres.  The Head of Streetscene said that operatives at each Household Recycling Centre should meet and greet customers inside the Centre and ask customers if they needed assistance.  Councillor Evans reported problems with bins left out in the street by residents in terraced housing in Shotton. The Head of Streetscene said that scatter vehicles could be used to empty bins from the rear of properties in alleyways.

Councillor D. Butler asked if anything could be done to dissuade groups of scrap merchants who targeted refuse set out for waste collection.  He said that some residents leave bulky items outside their homes for the merchants to collect.  The Director of Environment asked Councillor Butler to provide details to him regarding the locations.

Councillor C. Hinds asked if blue bags could be sealable, to prevent water accumulation.  She asked if more replacement food bags could be carried onboard the vehicles.  The Head of Streetscene said that new blue bags with Velcro seals were available on demand and that vehicles were being modified to carry more replacement bags.

Councillor G.H. Bateman asked if vehicles could be sent back on the same day to pick up missed collections.  He also asked if the Council had plans to promote a bin cleaning service.  The Head of Streetscene said that complaints often came in too late in the day to take remedial action that day.  He said that it was not practicable to send operatives back the next day, as it would impact on the collection service for that day.  The Deputy Leader said that the Council had been contacted by a Social Enterprise company that offered bin cleaning and sought assistance with promotion.  He said that he would forward the email to members.  The Head of Street Scene said that he could give the company details of the rounds.

Councillor C.A. Thomas said that a resident who wanted to dispose of computer discs was told by an operative at the Household Recycling Centre to dispose of them in the general waste stream.  The Head of Streetscene explained that he would investigate this.

Councillor C.J. Dolphin said that some crews had been seen to be rush around to complete rounds.  He reported that food bags were still stacked up in the street and was concerned about stray plastic bottles littering streets. The Head of Streetscene said that operatives knew not to stack up waste and action would be taken against anyone doing this.  He said that stray waste would be collected by litter teams in exceptional weather who would follow refuse vehicles on their rounds.  Councillor Dolphin asked for clarification about the operative’s working day and asked how savings could be made to the service when pay premiums were issued for Saturday shifts.  The Head of Streetscene said that operatives had sufficient time to complete rounds and must sign in and out at every shift.  Staff may clock out up to half an hour earlier than their scheduled end time, should they have completed their duties for the day.  On some days they will be expected to go beyond their scheduled end time to complete a task, up to 30 minutes of which will be unpaid.  The Head of Streetscene assured Members that operatives were not asked to achieve unrealistic targets. The Director of the Environment said that he would forward financial information regarding the savings mentioned in the report to Councillor Dolphin.

Councillor V. Gay said that residents were not aware of the Clinical Waste Service.  The Head of Streetscene said residents would need to ring up to access the service which is partly funded by the NHS.  He said that district nurses and pharmacies promoted the service and that Harvey Mitchell could follow this up with her.

RESOLVED:

a)         That Members of the Committee note the report and the progress made within the service since the service review in March 2012;

b)         That the Committee be supplied with financial information for the service outlining savings; and

c)         That the Committee notes the positive achievement of a near 60% recycling rate.