Delegation Scheme Number
Table 4a – A1
HIGH PEAK BOROUGH COUNCIL
Report to the Executive Member for Community Services
11th October 2011
TITLE:
Waste Collection Service – Removal of
Cardboard from Organic Recycling Collections
EXECUTIVE COUNCILLOR
Cllr Anthony McKeown – Deputy Leader and
Executive Councillor for Community Services
CONTACT OFFICER:
Nicola Kemp – Waste Collection Manager
WARDS INVOLVED:
Non-Specific
1.
Reason for the Report
1.1
To detail proposals for a district wide service change to accommodate the
removal of cardboard from the green waste collection service
2.
Recommendations
2.1
That the Executive Member for Community Services:

Approves the proposed service change (collecting cardboard alongside paper
in the blue bags) from 1st November 2011 which will accommodate the need
to remove cardboard from the green waste collections

Approves the Communications Plan to support the changes as outlined in
Section 10 of the report

Notes the decision of the chair of the Community Select Committee to exempt
the decision from call in
3.
Executive Summary
3.1
The current refuse/recycling service is as follows:
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





A green-lidded wheeled bin for cardboard, food waste and garden waste
(emptied every 2 weeks).
A green kerbside box for mixed glass bottles & jars, food tins & drinks cans,
aerosols and foil (emptied every 2 weeks)
A blue bag for paper (emptied every 2 weeks)
A red and white bag for mixed textiles and clothes (emptied every two weeks)
A black lidded wheeled bin for rubbish that cannot be recycled or composted
Plastics recycling centres for rigid household plastic packaging (recycling
centres located at various points in the borough)
3.2
The Council is faced with having to make changes to the kerbside service due to
changes in regulation around organic waste composition. The Council has been
advised that from the 1st November 2011 cardboard would no longer be an
acceptable material in the current green waste stream i.e. the green lidded bin.
This is because the compost product that results from green waste that contains
cardboard fails the relevant quality standard (PAS 100).
3.3
In order to accommodate the need to remove cardboard the Council’s operator
(Veolia) have proposed to collect cardboard alongside paper in the blue bags
from 31st October 2011 as a temporary measure. It is anticipated that
operational costs associated with this service change will be approximately
£11,583 per calendar month due to the need for an additional vehicle and staff.
Derbyshire County Council (DCC) has committed to cover this operational cost
from 1st November 2011 until no later than 31st March 2012.
3.4
A report was initially presented to the Community Select Committee on 5th
September 2011 that made proposals for a two-stage change in the service the
first sage being a temporary measure to deal with the urgent cardboard issue
and the second stage being a new service that included the collection of plastics
at the kerbside for recycling. Members of the Select Committee did not support
the recommendations contained within the report instead opting for the
establishment of a sub-committee to look at the proposals in more detail. The
sub-committee met for the first time on 30th September 2011 and at that meeting
considered the requirement to remove cardboard from the organic recycling
collection in more detail.
3.5
After a discussion the sub-committee agreed that the Council should implement
the first stage of the original proposal subject to a number of additional actions.
3.6
The service change will inevitably have implications for residents.
A
communications plan (provided in detail in Section 10) has been developed with
the Communications Team to ensure that the transition moves as smoothly as
possible and reduces unnecessary contact with the council although it should be
noted that this will be challenging due to the tight timescales.
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4
How this Report Links with Corporate Priorities
4.1
Waste collection is an important front-line service that impacts on every
household in the Borough. The quality and perception of the waste collection
service have a direct impact on resident satisfaction with the Council.
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Options
5.1
The requirement to remove cardboard from the green lidded bins from 1st
November 2011 is compulsory and the temporary solution has been developed
with the waste disposal authority (Derbyshire County Council) at no cost to this
Council.
6.
Implications
6.1
Community Safety - (Crime and Disorder Act 1998)
None
6.2
Workforce
None
6.3
Equality and Diversity/Equality Impact Assessment
This report has been prepared in accordance with the Council's Diversity
and Equality Policies.
6.4
Financial Considerations
It is anticipated that operational costs associated with this service change
will be approximately £11,583 per calendar month due to the need for an
additional vehicle and staff. DCC have committed to cover this operational
cost from 1st November 2011 until no later than 31st March 2012
6.5
Legal
None
6.6
Sustainability
None
6.7
Internal and External Consultation
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Service areas affected by the service change have been advised for the
proposal within this report. The Customer Services Team will be heavily
involved in the development of promotional literature and will be fully
engaged in the timeframe for the project.
6.8
Risk Assessment
A range of risks have been identified as a result of the proposals, these
are detailed in the table below. The table also identifies the action
proposed to mitigate these risks:
Risk type
Financial
Operational
Issues
Service
Satisfaction
Service
Satisfaction
Risks
DCC will cover the operational
costs associated with removing
the cardboard from the green
waste stream up to 31st March
2012, this council be liable after
this date. The additional costs to
this council would be in the region
of £138,996 per annum.
Staffordshire Moorlands District
Council also has to change its
organic
waste
service
to
accommodate the removal of
cardboard. The Waste Collection
Team restructure will be consulted
with officers in late September,
with a report being presented in
October. As the structure may not
be in place for the service change
this could cause issues on
resources within the Waste Team.
Due to the transactional review
and changes to the CRM system,
Customer Services will be under
pressure at the time of the
proposed service changes. This
will mean there will be little or no
resource to handle an increase in
calls/queries, highlighting the need
for good communications.
The lack of funds available to
promote the new services could
impact the understanding of the
new services by our residents.
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Mitigation
New proposals will need be
implemented by 31st March 2012 to
avoid
the
ongoing
financial
consequences
Temporary staffing will be put in
place if required
Temporary staffing will be put in
place if required
Sources of external funding will be
investigated.
Risk type
Performance
Risks
It is estimated that approx 800
tonnes of the green waste is made
up of cardboard (10% of total
waste stream). The impact of
changing
the
services
with
cardboard
added
onto
the
recycling service could lead to a
loss of material captured and thus
affect our recycling rate. If we
capture only half of the cardboard
the recycling rate could fall by
1.5% to 40.5% based on the 201011 results.
Mitigation
The Council is committed to deliver
and maintain a strong bin inspection
and rejection policy, and to educate
residents and ensure that card is
eliminated from the organics waste
stream
ANDREW P STOKES
Executive Director (Community Services)
Web Links and
Background Papers
Waste & recycling Sub Committee
Minutes 17/9/09, 15/10/09,
12/11/09, 10/12/09, 11/3/10
Citizens panel consultation results
Sept ‘09
Location
Contact details
Waste Collection
Fowlchurch Depot
Nicola Kemp
Waste Collection
Manager
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7.
Background and Introduction
7.1
A report was presented to the Community Select Committee on 5th September
2011 proposing changes to the Council’s waste collection service to:


Provide for additional recycling by implementing a service that includes the
collection of plastics; and
Provides for the removal of cardboard from the organic recycling collections.
7.2
The report proposed a two-stage change with a temporary measure to remove
the cardboard recommended for implementation in November 2011 with a
permanent solution proposed for implementation in March 2012 which including
the collection of plastics at the kerbside for recycling.
7.3
Members of the Select Committee did not support the recommendations
contained within the report instead opting for the establishment of a subcommittee to look at the proposals in more detail.
7.4
The sub-committee met for the first time on 30th September 2011 and at that
meeting considered the requirement to remove cardboard from the organic
recycling collection in more detail.
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Current Waste Collection Service
8.1
The current refuse/recycling service is as follows:






8.2
A green-lidded wheeled bin for cardboard, food waste and garden waste
(emptied every 2 weeks).
A green kerbside box for mixed glass bottles & jars, food tins & drinks cans,
aerosols and foil (emptied every 2 weeks)
A blue bag for paper (emptied every 2 weeks)
A red and white bag for mixed textiles and clothes (emptied every two weeks)
A black lidded wheeled bin for rubbish that cannot be recycled or composted
Plastics recycling centres for rigid household plastic packaging (recycling
centres located at various points in the borough)
Since April 2010 green waste has been sent an in vessel composting facility
(IVC) at Waterswallows, Buxton which is operated by Sita on behalf of
Derbyshire County Council (DCC). This enabled the council to collect food waste
alongside garden waste and cardboard in the green lidded bins.
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9.
Collection of Cardboard
9.1
The Council has been advised that from the 1st November 2011 cardboard
would no longer be an acceptable material in the current green waste stream i.e.
the green lidded bin.
9.2
Research has shown that paper and cardboard wastes comingled with
biodegradable wastes i.e. garden and food wastes are very likely to include
contaminants that may compromise the quality of the finished compost.
Therefore the inclusion of non-compostable plastic-coated paper and cardboard
such as; milk / juice cartons, cereal boxes, washing powder boxes, frozen food
containers, take-out containers, foil-coated paper and cardboard, paper and
cardboard printed with inks or coloured with dyes can affect the quality of
compost produced. PAS 100 (Publically Available Specification) standards which
determine the quality of compost are to be tightened later this year resulting in
the need to significantly reduce levels of contamination.
9.3
The Government Waste Policy Review released on 14th June 2011 confirms that
composting is classed as recycling with respect to the waste hierarchy only if
compliant with the Quality Protocol (hence, with the PAS 100:2011 Specification).
If a compost product fails the PAS 100 standard then effectively the waste has
not been recycled and could not count towards recycling performance.
9.4
Currently the compost produced by the IVC facility at Waterswallows is not PAS
100 compliant and as a result is being spread on agricultural land. The facility do
wish to gain PAS 100 status for the compost they produce and are therefore
keen to reduce contamination levels in order to achieve this.
9.5
In order to accommodate the need to remove cardboard Veolia have proposed to
collect cardboard alongside paper in the blue bags from 31st October 2011. It is
anticipated that operational costs associated with this service change will be
approximately £11,583 per calendar month due to the need for an additional
vehicle and staff.
9.6
DCC had committed to cover this operational cost from 1st November 2011 until
no later than 31st March 2012. This offer was originally based on the fact that the
Borough Council was proposing a permanent solution in March 2012. Following
the rejection of the original proposals by the Community Select Committee DCC
was approached to see if the funding would be still available despite there being
uncertainty over a permanent solution. DCC confirmed that they would still be
prepared to provide the funding until 31st March 2012, after this date High Peak
Borough Council would need to cover any ongoing costs themselves.
9.7
It has been stipulated that the funding from DCC is subject to this Council’s
commitment to deliver and maintain a strong bin inspection and rejection policy,
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and to educate residents and ensure that card is eliminated from the organics
waste stream.
9.8
In addition DCC have requested that in return for the funding that this council will
enter into an agreement regarding tonnage/material inputs into the IVC. This had
previously not been committed due to concerns regarding the minimum tonnages
required per annum. DCC have agreed they are happy to review this level as a
result of this Council’s concerns and the removal of cardboard.
9.9
The sub committee considered the proposed temporary solution to remove the
cardboard from the organic waste stream and agreed that this should be the way
forward subject to the following:





That additional blue bags should be ordered and distributed;
That the option to supply larger blue bags is investigated and implemented if
feasible;
That Veolia should be asked to ensure that their staff are effectively trained;
That special arrangements are made to provide for collections during the
Christmas period; and
Promotion of the assisted bin collection scheme is undertaken
10.
Communications Plan
10.1
The original report to the Community Select Committee contained details of a
comprehensive Communications Plan that would be implemented to support the
introduction of the proposed new arrangements.
10.2
Obviously the communications that need to support the proposed changes in this
report only need to be focussed upon the changes in respect of cardboard. The
difficulty now however is that due to the delays in obtaining approval for the
change there is only a very short period of time to communicate the required
changes.
10.3
DCC has committed funding from the sale of its Waste Exhibition Vehicle to
assist all Waste Collection Authorities (WCA) in promoting the service changes
arising from the requirement to remove cardboard from the organic waste
stream. HPBC will receive £2,000 of this to support promotional activities
associated with the required service change. Any additional costs associated
with the changes will be funded from the current promotions budget.
10.4
As a result of the delays in obtaining approval for the temporary service change
we have had to rethink the way in which we will be communicating the message
to households of the borough. A bin sticker will be used to communicate the
message to households presented by collection crews on green bins from
Monday 17th October. This will ensure households know not to present
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cardboard in this bin for future collections. The cost of production of 43,000
stickers is £4,257. This is considerably higher than the estimated costs of leaflet
production and delivery.
10.5
Derbyshire County Council (DCC) have intimated that Sita as the in vessel
composting operator at Waterswallows are be interested in financially supporting
some additional communications, the benefit of course being the faster removal
of cardboard if a comprehensive communications campaign is undertaken. The
production and delivery of an A5 promotional leaflet to be issued to all
households is therefore being investigated with delivery to hopefully occur in
early November, this is not currently included in the communications plan as
detailed below as yet the timeline is unknown.
10.6
DCC and Sita have intimated that they expect to see a reduction in cardboard
presented through the green bins from Monday 31st October and would hope to
see total removal by the end of the sixth week (w/c 5th December). Monitoring
will be ongoing of collected materials to see if this is happening. Additional
communications may be needed if the levels are not falling at a rate in line with
expectations.
10.7
Key dates for the diary are as follows:
Week
w/c 17th October
w/c 24th October
w/c 31st October
Activity
o Crews to start stickering green bins presented on
collection day
o Advert on High Peak community radio commences
– three plays per day
o Press release issued to local media regarding
changes
o Dedicated webpage with link from home page
detailing changes and reasons why
o Crews to start stickering green bins presented on
collection day
o Advert on High Peak community radio continues –
three plays per day
o Press release issued to local media
o Green waste collections change (cardboard now
collected with paper)
o Crews continue to sticker bins contaminated with
cardboard
o Advert on High Peak community radio continues –
three plays per day
o Contamination monitoring occurring – Supervisors
on the ground with crews, monitoring of loads once
delivered to Waterswallows
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w/c
Week
November
7th
o
o
w/c 14th November
to
w/c
5th
December
o
o
Activity
Contamination monitoring occurring – Supervisors
on the ground with crews, monitoring of loads once
delivered to Waterswallows
Crews continue to sticker bins contaminated with
cardboard
Contamination monitoring occurring – Supervisors
on the ground with crews, monitoring of loads once
delivered to Waterswallows
Crews continue to sticker bins contaminated with
cardboard.
11.
Exemption from Call-in
11.1
Given the urgency associated with the removal of the cardboard from the greenlidded bin the Chair of the Community Select Committee has agreed that the
proposed decision shall not be subject to call-in in accordance with paragraph 12
of the Select Committee Procedure Rules.
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