Gloucestershire Waste Partnership
3rd July 2012
Venue: Meeting Room 6, Shire Hall
Notes of meeting
Present
Cllr Steve Jordan (SJ)Cllr Jim Mason (JM)
Cllr Simon Pickering (SP)
Cllr Martin Quaile (MQ)
Cllr Ray Theodoulou (RT)
Cllr Kathy Williams (KW)
Cllr Stan Waddington (SW)
Jo Walker (JW)
Tony Childs (TC)
Ross Cook (RC) / Verna Green (VG)
Peter Hibberd (PH)
Grahame Lewis (GL)
Andrew Logan (AL)
Carlos Novoth (CN)
Scott Williams (ScW)
Ralph Young (RY)
Cllr Sarah Lunnon (SL) (Observer)
Roger Smith (RS)
Apologies for absence
Cllr Roger Whyborn14:30. SW opened the meeting and welcomed all.
1. Introductions
Attendees introduced themselves to the meeting.
2. Notes and actions of last meeting (03.04.12)
· Minutes of the previous meeting were agreed with no corrections.
· All actions agreed on 03.04.12 had been completed.
3. Performance & projects update
TC presented a brief history of the journey Gloucestershire has taken in terms of improving recycling and diverting waste from landfill. This included details on the various WCA service changes and how they had impacted on recycling rates.
SP: What had happening to total waste arisings since 1990?
TC: Total arisings had been the subject of a previous presentation to GWP which would be redistributed.
Outturn recycling and composting and residual rates for 2011/12 were presented.
FODDC and SDC service changes happening this year and new recycling streams are being investigated by May Gurney for the HRCs.
Waste sort data for CDC, GC and TBC had been analysed and capture rates were presented current capture rates are at 61%. This data also demonstrated that co-mingled collections achieve the better capture rates.
The tonnes of recyclable material left in the residual waste stream showed that food waste was the largest element, followed by plastics, then card.
There was an update on the CRIS project and a Defra bid had been submitted for Food Points.
MRF and environmental performance.
CO2 emissions would increase using MRFs for recycling unless recycling rates could increase by around 10% compared to kerbside sorting systems. The recycling performance of existing systems indicate that we might expect a 6% increase in recycling over the whole county if co-mingled collections were adopted. Further work is being done to consider the finance and customer service aspects and further reports will be brought back to GWP.
Food waste treatment
The current contract uses in-vessel composing and M Bennion is currently developing an Anaerobic Digestion plant to sit alongside the IVC. TC has been discussing with partners the importance of food supply. In particular the County needs to understand the commitment for continued food waste collection by District partners so that the procurement opportunity is fully understood.
Action– SW requested that performance targets are reviewed by GWP.
Action – TC to provide a detailed paper on food waste treatment options.
Action – TC to re-distribute the presentation on total waste.
Action – TC to update on co-mingling/MRF at the next meeting.
Action – TC to do further work on dry recycling kerbside capture rates to help understand the potential opportunities to increase capture rates.
4. Waste partnership programme update
PH summarised the waste partnership programme and the present position of GCC, CDC, CBC and FODDC being in a position to move forward and set up the partnership. TBC have deferred their decision until sometime in the future.
Action – TC to circulate details of the Somerset Waste Partnership’s current recycling rates.
5. Service updates
ScW updated on CBCs and CDCs service.
· CBC and CDC have now set up the joint waste service company called Ubico. The collection teams and office staff have now been TUPE’d over to the new organisation.
· CBC - is looking at how to reinforce it’s closed bin and no side waste policy for residual kerbside waste.
· CBC - is looking at how to increase garden waste service take up.
· CBC - The Swindon Road CA site is going to be assessed to see what improvements can be made to its operation.
· CDC - Mixed plastics kerbside collections to be introduced in October 2012.
· CDC - To date there have been 18,500 renewals for the garden waste collection service.
VG and JM updated on TBCs service.
· The sights on 60 campaign is still going on with some interest being shown by local press.
· A campaign is being launched soon to help maintain the high quality of recyclable material in the blue bins. This campaign will focus on what happens at the MRF and emphasise the need to avoid contamination.
· TBC has partnered with a local charity that can recycle video tapes. It is intended that some form of “video amnesty” is run to collect tapes.
RC updated on GCs service.
· Enterprise had undergone some Management changes recently.
· An online survey on GCs kerbside services had been carried out. 61% of respondents were using the food waste collection service. Those not using it indicated hygiene issues and home composting as the reason. 95% of those using the charged for garden waste collection service are satisfied with it.
· The bid for funding to re-instate weekly kerbside residual waste collections will not be taken any further.
MQ updated on FODDCs service.
· The charged for kerbside garden waste collection service began in April 2012. About 15,000 tags (on bins) have been issued to date (at £26 per year). This is approximately 40% of households.
· Food waste and fortnightly residual waste collections started on 2nd July. There were a number of calls taken on the first day from residents wanting information about the new scheme despite the extensive marketing campaign and press coverage.
· 24 new vehicles had been purchased for the new service.
· GCC were currently supporting an education campaign through plays put on at local Schools.
SP updated on SDCs service.
· The bid for weekly kerbside residual waste collections will not be taken further.
· The new co-mingled dry recycling collection service commenced on 3rd July using green wheeled bins (or bags for approximately 10,000 properties).
· Customers have been contacting the Council for further information.
TC updated on GCCs service.
· Soil Conditioner sold at the HRCs had gone up to £3.50 per 40 litre bag.
· GCC are looking to improve the customer service at HRCs and are working towards a 24/7 online vehicle booking system for customers using vans and large trailer.
· May Gurney are exploring potential new waste streams to divert from landfill, most notably carpets and mattresses.
· Food waste transfer support had been provided to FODDC.
· GCC are supporting “Love Food Hate Waste” promotional materials at local libraries and surgeries if this is successful they will be looking for further opportunities.
· Home composting is still being promoted through the RFG website and volunteer “Master Composters” are attending summer events.
· A student placement is being explored to facilitate work with local university to promote recycling within the student population.
6. AOB
· MQ asked whether any Districts had actually bid for the funding to re-instate weekly residual waste collections. Two had expressed an interest but neither were taking the bid further.
Meeting closed at 16:15.
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