Agenda item

RESOLVED that 1) the recommendations of the review outlined in section 2.5 of the report and Section 2 of Appendix 1, be endorsed,

2) monitoring takes place over a twelve-month period via the PERFORM system with an update report to the Customer Services Scrutiny Committee at the end of the monitoring period.

Executive considered a detailed report presented by Councillor Donna Hales, Chair of the Customer Services Scrutiny Committee, in relation to the Committee’s recent Review of Effectiveness of the Council’s Waste Collection and Disposal Education.

The Customer Services Scrutiny Committee agreed to undertake the review as part of their 2023-24 Work Programme. The issue was initially raised due to concerns of contamination rates within recycling waste collections, creating additional costs to the Council through contamination charges. Members believed that the main cause of this issue was due to residents not knowing how to use their bins correctly and effectively.

The key issues identified for investigation were:

·       the Impact of current contamination rates on recycling targets, additional costs to the Council.

·       the usage of Household Waste Recycling Centre in Bolsover and whether there was clear messaging as to what could and could not be taken to the site.

·       reduction in size of black residual waste bins. Costs associated with recycling by way of burgundy bin, with second available on request.

·       the potential use of skip collections in problem wards or Freighter Days – this did not always encourage correct recycling and resulted in bulky type waste collection. This further increased residual waste which may normally be taken to a household waste recycling centre and therefore increased the amount of residual waste collected by the Council. This then lowers the overall combined recycling rates due to the amount recycled being calculated as the percentage diverted from the residual waste stream and not increasing as ship collections did.

The key findings arising from the review were:

·       that there was most confusion over the burgundy bin and which items were supposed to be recycled and which items cannot be recycled.

·       that since the COVID-19 Pandemic, the Council had struggled to regenerate school programmes and had not yet returned to the pre-COVID standards of recycling education for young people.

·       that the Council acknowledged the introduction of separate weekly food waste collections from 1^st April 2026 would influence the next major stepped change in Bolsover’s combined recycling performance, by breaking the 50% barrier to head towards the 2035 target of 65%.

·       that it was crucial that the Council considered accessibility of communication services and the statutory requirements with regards to education on Council services that affected all residents so that every service user could benefit from the waste collection services that the Council provided.

·       that the Council should look towards the future of Bolsover by considering innovative modern methods of communication to consider ways to engage young people and future residents of the District.

·       that some of the Council’s communication services were not being fully utilised due to a lack of educational content being received from the relevant specialist officers.

·       that the Council must effectively utilise their current methods of communication to the highest standard with efficiency and coherence to frequently remind residents on the importance of recycling, the correct methods of recycling, and the best practice of how to engage with the Council’s waste collection services.

Committee had put together 11 recommendations which were set out in the report and would hopefully assist the Council in improving recycling rates and reducing rates of waste contamination by improving the effectiveness of the Council’s waste collection and disposal education.

The Director of Strategy thanked Councillor Hales and the Scrutiny Committee for involving Streetscene in the work they had carried out on the review.

Members agreed that the report was an excellent report and a lengthy discussion took place around promoting recycling in schools, youth clubs, parish councils and also using posters and via the Council’s quarterly InTouch magazine.

Members noted that it was understandable that people were confused about what they could and could not recycle given the many different types of packaging, for example, waxed paper and mixed packaging that needed separating before it was put in the bins.

Moved by Councillor Duncan McGregor and seconded by Councillor Sandra Peake

RESOLVED that: 1) the recommendations of the review outlined in section 2.5             of the report and Section 2 of Appendix 1, be endorsed,

2)    monitoring takes place over a twelve-month period via the PERFORM system with an update report to the Customer Services Scrutiny Committee at the end of the monitoring period.

Reasons for Recommendation

The Committee had put together 11 recommendations which would hopefully assist the Council in improving recycling rates and reducing rates of waste contamination by improving the effectiveness of the Council’s waste collection and disposal education.

Alternative Options and Reasons for Rejection

Executive could choose not to endorse the recommendations of the review where they felt the course of action recommended was beyond the delivery capacity of the Authority.

Councillors Donna Hales and Rita Turner, and Thomas Dunne-Wragg (Scrutiny Officer), left the meeting.