Issue - meetings

To consider the call-in request which will discuss the Waste Collections Policy decision.

Report from the Strategic Director of Regeneration and Environment.

Recommendations:

1.      That Cabinet approve the draft revised Kerbside Residential Waste Collection Policy for a public consultation.

2.      That Cabinet agree to the commencement of two pilots to test the approach to contamination, with the specific areas to be determined.

At the Chair’s invitation Councillor Tarmey and Councillor Yasseen expressed their reasons for calling-in the Waste Collections Policy Cabinet decision. In their views the policy contradicted some previously made statements indicated contamination rates were low. A previous Cabinet Member had been asked about the contamination rates and had given assurance, at the time, that everything was fine, rates were low.

The Cabinet Member had recently provided reassurance that recycling rates were fine and now it felt like a policy was being introduced that would be quite punitive for residents. It was felt that education was the way to address this rather than punitive fines. A greater assessment of how residents’ behaviours could change should be undertaken as residents may be opting not to recycle as the documents provided to Cabinet did not indicate this. It was queried if residents would need to make additional trips to the household waste recycling centres or would lead to more being added to the non-recyclable waste bins?

The policy did not include enough detail regarding how waste could be attributed to an individual household and how this would be enforced, which could lead to inappropriately fining residents.

The carbon impact assessment did not cover the scope of things such as additional vehicle movements, which could be associated with either enforcement activities or residents making additional trips to the household waste recycling centres. The equality impact assessment did not contain enough detail.

It was noted that English was not the first language for some residents within the borough along with some multi-generational households not fully understanding the contaminations issues.

It was known that recycling rates had reduced however it was felt it was better to reinvigorate people’s desire to recycle rather than threaten people with fines. It was important that the reasons for recycling were highlighted and to address the barriers and challenges to communities where the capacity to recycle was lower.

It was felt that new stickers should be placed on bins to educate and encourage residents about recycling. It was noted that the Council Plan made reference to contamination affecting the money the Council received and that the data within the plan was not accurate and hard to understand if the Council was achieving its target. Examples were cited of milk cartons being classed as general waste at the recycling centres however they were put in the appropriate bin for plastics for the curb side recycling collections.

The report did not indicate if various solutions had already been tried to address some of the issues that had impacted on recycling rates going down. No other approaches or interventions had been tried prior to fining people.

Literacy rates within Rotherham were lower so residents may genuinely not understand the requirements. This would also affect the more deprived communities and households across the borough. It was felt that recycling targets needed to be met through consent and co-operation with the communities we served. People needed to feel good about recycling.

The Chair invited members of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 75

Report from the Strategic Director of Regeneration and Environment.

Recommendations:

1.             That Cabinet approve the draft revised Kerbside Residential Waste Collection Policy for a public consultation.

2.             That Cabinet agree to the commencement of two pilots to test the approach to contamination, with the specific areas to be determined.

Consideration was given to the report which outlined the proposed changes to the Waste Collection Policies following a review. The changes sought to improve the accessibility of information by reducing a number of separate documents into one clear policy for Residential Kerbside Waste Collections (Appendix 1). In addition, the review  ...  view the full minutes text for item 87