Culture, Communities and Business Services Overview and
Scrutiny Committee:
22 nd July 2010
1.0 Matter for consideration
1.1 The Committee to consider a report to update on the Waste Disposal Private Finance
Initiative.
2.0 Recommendation(s)
2.1 To note the report, asking questions in relation to its content and making recommendations as considered appropriate.
3.0 Introduction
3.0.1 At the end of 2006, the Executive agreed to the Council proceeding to financial close of the Waste Disposal Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contract with Lancashire County
Council and the Global Renewables Limited consortium, now known as Global
Renewables Lancashire Limited (GRLL).
3.0.2 The twenty-five year contract is for the provision of an integrated waste disposal infrastructure to deal with the household waste generated by the residents of
Lancashire County and Blackpool Councils.
3.0.3 The PFI contract includes the construction of major processing facilities at a cost of approximately £250 million. At the core of the contractual arrangements is the delivery of services for the diversion of waste from landfill, based upon a detailed output specification. Key elements of the specification are as follows:

56 per cent diversion of residual waste from landfill;

95 per cent diversion of kitchen and garden waste from landfill;

93 per cent diversion of separately collected co-mingled plastics, glass and metals from landfill;

100 per cent diversion of separately collected paper, glass, plastics, metals, cardboard and glass from landfill;

Provision of an environmental education service to a minimum of 300
Key Stage 2 school classes per year. This includes both visits to the
Environmental Education Centre at the Leyland Waste Technology Park and in-school curriculum activity;

A local market development programme for recovered materials;

A waste minimisation and community engagement programme to support the take-up and performance of kerbside recycling services; and

The planting of 100,000 trees per year utilising the recovered organic materials, including the remediation of brownfield land and as CO 2 mitigation.

3.1 Changes to Blackpool’s Recycling Collection Service
3.1.1 As indicated in previous Overview and Scrutiny Committee reports, we need to remove cardboard from the green waste in order to maximise the efficiency of the green waste processing plant. The intention is for residents to put paper and card together in a new sturdier brown sack and for this to be collected on the appropriate recycling collection day.
3.1.2 Residents will be advised of the changes by means of a sticker attached to their green waste wheeled bin, and a leaflet posted through their letterbox. A copy of the leaflet is attached at Appendix 6 (a). The brown sack will be left at the front of the property with the emptied green bin. If a resident has not presented their green waste wheeled bin on the day of collection, the sack delivery team will endeavour to find the bin to attach a sticker. If this is not possible, the brown sack and information leaflet will be left at the house.
3.1.3 On collection day, the usual Veolia collection crew will empty the green waste wheeled bins followed by a team delivering the sacks and leaflets. Council Waste Education
Officers will also be present to oversee the distribution process and answer any queries from residents. All officers will have mobile phones to receive any calls that
Customer First staff are unable to deal with.
3.1.4 In addition, information will be available on both the Council Intranet and the Blackpool
Council website. This information includes a list of frequently asked questions that residents can use and Customer First call centre staff can refer to. As the change is relatively straight forward, it in not anticipated that there will be a significant number of calls.
3.1.5 Following the removal of cardboard from the green waste wheeled bins, residents will be able to put food waste in these bins, together with their grey residual waste wheeled bin. However, this cannot happen until tests at the Thornton waste plant are completed to confirm the plant’s ability to meet strict food waste processing standards.
Completion of the tests is likely to be in the autumn at the earliest. Once confirmation is received, residents will be informed that food waste can be disposed with either their green or residual waste. In effect, this will provide residents with a weekly food waste collection service.
3.2 Conclusion
3.2.1 This change to the household waste recycling service will ensure the efficient and effective operation of the new waste processing plant at Thornton and will lead to improved recycling rates for Blackpool.
4.0 Witnesses / representatives
4.1 As requested by the Committee members, the following persons have been invited to attend the meeting to speak on the matter:

Paul Taylor, Assistant Director, Commercial Services
Relevant officer:
Paul Taylor, Assistant Director, Commercial Services
Tel: (01253) 478400, e-mail: paul.taylor@blackpool.gov.uk

Appendices attached:
Appendix 6 (a) – Information sticker and leaflet
Background papers:
None.
Websites and e-mail links for further information: www.globalrenewables.co.uk
Glossary:
GRLL – Global Renewables Lancashire Limited
PFI
– Private Finance Initiative