Agenda item

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 had identified several legislative changes which had been updated within the document.

The current policies were out of date in relation to legislation and terminology and were not clearly structured or well formatted. As a result, the policies had been updated into a new format and brought up to date. This had involved updating web links and operational processes, to match how they functioned, tidying and removing unnecessary language, adding in new links and including references to the Rotherham bin app, and updating out of date information such as prices.

Alongside the technical changes, specific proposals were also made which sought to improve recycling and reduce contamination of recycling, supporting the Council’s ambition to deliver a Cleaner and Greener Local Environment. The enhanced approach would seek to improve communication and engagement with residents whilst also identifying a clear approach to enforcement.

The current Contamination Policy needed updating as it had limited mechanisms to deal with repeat contamination. The extent of the current Policy consisted entirely of not collecting the bin and placing an easily

removable tag. In order to improve the approach to managing contamination, it was proposed that a “traffic light” tag system be piloted, along with improving work to engage and educate residents, and a new enforcement process, that would begin with a warning and potentially escalating to a fixed penalty notice if there was no improvement over an appropriate period of time and following three occasions of contamination. It was proposed that this approach be piloted in two specific areas, yet to be identified, and the pilot would run concurrently with the public consultation. The result of both the pilot and the consultation would inform the final Policy and subsequent approach, which would be brought back to Cabinet in due course.

During the meeting, the Leader explained that significant contamination cost the Council, as subsequently, cost the taxpayer. By introducing a fixed penalty notice, it was hoped that the cost could be reduced. The fines would act as an incentive for residents to sort their waste appropriately and would be used as a very last resort after multiple warnings. The Council would not be spying on residents in order to issue a large number of fines. The pilot would start in April and last for a period of at least 12 weeks in order to ensure the full length of the associated processes could be tested.

Resolved:

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.