Issue - meetings

Councillor Warwick introduced the report and highlighted that the Government had just announced its new Resources and Waste Strategy. The Strategy included the following:

·         Proposals to ensure producers pay the cost of recycling packaging;

·         Weekly food waste collection;

·         Promoting free garden waste collection;

·         Introduce a consistent set of recyclable materials and labelling on packaging.

Councillor Warwick stated that the report linked closely with the new Strategy and the Council was intending to respond positively to the Government on its proposals.

Councillor Warwick highlighted that a detailed procurement exercise had been undertaken with consultant’s advice.  The 2016 survey had indicated the popularity for introducing kerbside glass collection and it was proposed this would be introduced from the start of the one year contract extension.  Although this one year contract extension was more expensive than currently charged (due to the shorter timescale and inclusion of kerbside glass recycling), comparison indicated it was at a mid-point in terms of price.  The contract extension proposed would also enable the lease of some new refuse vehicles to improve reliability.  There would also be a dedicated contract management team based within the Council.  Councillor Warwick highlighted that legal advice was that it was not possible to enter into a joint contract with East Hants District Council as they had delegated provision of the service to Havant District Council.  She thanked the Strategic Director for his work in progressing the contract negotiations.

At the invitation of the Chairman, Councillors Thompson and Bell addressed Cabinet as summarised below.

Councillor Thompson

·         Welcomed the proposal to introduce kerbside glass collection but believed it should have been included when the current contract was awarded 8 years ago;

·         Expressed regret it would only be a monthly collection of glass and queried whether this would change to fortnightly after the one year contract extension period?

·         Was the cost of the collection containers included?

·         Welcomed the Government announcement regarding food waste collection but urged the Council to introduce before the deadline given of 2023.

Councillor Bell

·         Welcomed the Government’s proposals in relation to waste and recycling;

·         Requested that the Integra presentation given at The Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 13 December 2018 be made available to Members;

·         Agreed with Councillor Thompson’s comments that kerbside glass recycling should have been introduced earlier and that food waste recycling should be introduced as quickly as possible.

Councillor Warwick stated that the capital cost of purchase of new containers was included in paragraph 2.2 of the report.  The Integra presentation would be made available to Members.

With regard to frequency of glass collection, the Strategic Director advised that this varied between local authorities with some collecting fortnightly and some monthly, without a significant different in collection rates.  The monthly collection would operate for one year and Members’ could then decide whether they wished to increase frequency based on experience.

In response to questions, the Strategic Director confirmed that benchmarking information indicated that the current contract was one of the cheapest compared with other local authorities and had offered  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3