To receive the above update from the Waste Manager.

Naomi Markham, Waste Strategy Manager, gave Members a brief presentation on food waste recycling and Members noted the following key points:

Ø  The food waste campaign ended in 2015 and increased collections of food by 35% in 2016.

Ø  The increase in food waste remained steady during the 2016/17 financial year and then dropped slightly in 2017/18

Ø  The current year’s projections for food waste was lower so another food waste campaign was planned to begin shortly.

Ø  The 2015 campaign included the distribution of food waste bin liners which helped to increase the amount of food waste collected.

Ø  The vehicle that collected the food waste also collected regular household waste but, they were emptied into separate compartments on the lorry to keep them separated.

Ø  Sadly, there was no evidence to suggest the reduction in food waste recycling was due to people shopping smarter. Therefore, a new campaign reminding people to recycle food waste could potentially help increase food waste recycling.

Ø  The plan for the new campaign included the distribution of information and liners to be provided in the autumn.

Ø  The Waste Strategy Manager said there were issues with people recycling things that they should not and also, with people not recycling at all.

Ø  WRAP had produced new recycling guidelines

Ø  A wide consultation with the recycling industry had been carried out

Ø  A definitive list of items that could and could not be recycled had been produced

Ø  Consumer testing revealed low levels of awareness and much confusion

Ø  A key barrier to recycling was a lack of knowledge.

Ø  Research highlighted the most common incorrect items included in the recycling:

o   Laminated foil pouches – baby food, cat food etc

o   Drinking glasses such as wine glasses -  they melted at different temperatures.

o   Dirty or stained paper

o   Glass cookware such as Pyrex

o   Greetings cars with glitter on them – the glitter is very difficult to remove

o   Sticky papers

o   Nail varnish bottles

o   Window glass

o   Crisp packets.

Ø  Recycling contamination campaigns were being carried out and included:

o   All kerbside recycling bins were being stickered with information on what could and could not be placed in bins.

o   The stickers had reduced the levels of non-recyclable material that was placed in bins

o   Common materials that were placed in the recycling bin included rigid plastics, plastic film, metal items and general rubbish

o   New truck panels were also being introduced

o   The Waste Strategy Manager was looking to introduce a kerbside electrical waste service

o   The new truck panels showed what could and could not be recycled on the sides of the refuse trucks.

o   A new recycling contract was going out to tender

o   The Waste Strategy Manager said the Borough’s residents did do really well at recycling.

The Chairman asked for clarification on recycling plastic bottles. The Waste Strategy Managerconfirmed the best message was to leave caps and lids on bottles and jars as they were easier to sort if still attached. Councillor Hollingsworth asked if there was any evidence of changing buying habits. The Waste Strategy Manager responded with the blue planet effect, people were more aware of what they were buying and thinking about reducing plastic waste. Supermarkets were announcing that their customers could take containers to store to fill them up and save waste.

Councillor Sharp asked how much the scheme cost. Three years ago, Councillor Sharp  said if food waste bin bags were not replaced, the scheme would not work and, from the Waste Strategy Manager’s data, the only spike in recycling of food waste was when the bags were distributed so the Council needed to start distributing bags again. The Waste Strategy Manager responded it was something she was looking at adding to the new contract when the contract was procured. Councillor Sharp asked how much the scheme cost. The Waste Strategy Manager stated she did not have the figures with her but she would bring them with her to the next Panel meeting.

Councillor Yong stated when recycling fabric, residents leave their bag of fabric at the kerbside and when it was collected, the bin men left a new spare bag to be filled again; the same should happen with food waste. Only one bag should be handed out each week. Councillor Pryer stated she remembered when she was younger that bin men would distribute bin liners. She now bought her own bin liners and felt that just handing out one liner for food waste bins at a time would not be enough for a family of four; responsible individuals would use a bulk supply of liners responsibly. The Chairman said she agreed, she collected her food bin bags from the library. The Waste Strategy Manager confirmed residents could use any bags for food waste.

A member of the public asked how much it cost to sort contaminated recycling and how much that costs the tax payer in council tax. The Waste Strategy Manager confirmed it did not cost the tax payer in that way but, the Council was about to go out to procure a new contract. She added there was not value in recycling now. Two contracts were going out to tender, one for collections and one for reprocessing of recyclable materials. The new contracts would give the Council the ability to earn money on valuable recyclables and the Council would be able to say how much the Borough paid for non-recyclable materials and that would be communicated to residents

v  Action – The Waste Strategy Manager to bring the figures to the next Sustainability Panel of how much the scheme of replacing food waste bin bags cost.