AGENDA ITEM
COMMITTEE: EAST LUTON AREA COMMITTEE
DATE: 1 JUNE 2006
SUBJECT: EXPANDING RECYCLING AND GREEN WASTE COLLECTIONS
REPORT BY: HEAD OF WASTE MANAGEMENT
CONTACT MICK WRIGHT 546894 OFFICER:
IMPLICATIONS:
LEGAL COMMUNITY SAFETY
EQUALITIES ENVIRONMENT
FINANCIAL CONSULTATIONS STAFFING OTHER
WARDS AFFECTED: STOPSLEY
RECOMMENDATION(S)
1 The Eastern Area Committee is recommended to examine the Head of Waste Management’s report and note the plans to improve mixed dry recyclable collections and extend green waste kerbside collections in 2006/07.
REPORT
2 This report sets out the following:
• The plans and progress to meet the 2006/07 recycling target of 31% of household waste, particularly as they relate to the area covered by the Eastern Area Committee.
The proposed measures include:
• Implementing the fourth green waste round • Reviewing the capacity of the three existing green waste kerbside collection rounds • Increasing resident's recycling capacity, by implementing green and black bin swaps and making clear plastic sacks available through libraries, community centres, the Town Hall and the Central Depot, etc. • Meeting the PSA 2 targets for the Council's scheme on Waste and Recycling
IMPLEMENTING THE FOURTH GREEN WASTE ROUND
3 The fourth green waste round will enable as many residents as possible to gain access to the Council’s kerbside green waste collection rounds.
4 It is planned to give around 8,000 premises access to kerbside green waste recycling using black bins with brown lids and a further 3,500 premises using polypropylene reusable sacks. The current collection rounds are 100% based on bins, which has meant that premises that are on the plastic sack refuse collection system and many terraced properties are excluded from the collections. Distributing polypropylene sacks will mean that these premises will be included in the future. Sets out as Appendix A to this report are the areas, which will be given new access to green waste kerbside collections. There do not appear to be any new collections in the area covered by the Eastern Area Committee. If there are any roads that do not seem to have access to kerbside mixed dry recyclables or green waste collections, the Waste Management Service would like to be made aware of this, so that arrangements can be put in place to give access to kerbside collections to these premises.
5 The wheeled bins for the fourth green waste round are on order and expected to be delivered in the middle of May 2006. The reusable sacks are on a 12 week delivery, and therefore the premises on this collection system will be implemented later.
REVIEWING THE CAPACITY OF THE THREE EXISTING GREEN WASTE ROUNDS
6 Each of the current green waste rounds collects from around 18,000 premises over two weeks. This has been found to be an excessive number of premises at the peak times for green waste collections. The opportunity is therefore going to be taken to equalise the three existing rounds and the new round using a software tool called FleetRoute. This will ensure that, as far as possible, the green waste rounds have the same number of premises.
7 Green waste is the most seasonal material that the Council collects. These are the un-audited collection figures for 2005/06:
TABLE 1 – COLLECTIONS OF GREEN WASTE – 2005/06
MONTH AMOUNT COLLECTED (TONNES) April 775 May 1001 June 1058 July 776 August 737 September 782 October 664 November 360 December 124 January 19 February 135 March 279 TOTAL 6700
8 The prediction for the year was 5,700 tonnes, so this is good result, given that it was a cold Winter and a late, cold Spring.
INCREASING RESIDENTS’ RECYCLING CAPACITY
9 The Council’s Executive has agreed that residents should be offered the ability to swap their black residual waste bin and their green recycling bin, which many of them have requested to do. The swap scheme will be voluntary, and will be achieved by giving residents highly adhesive “limpet” stickers to place on their bins, so that the refuse and recycling collectors can be in no doubt as to which bin is which.
10 Another measure to improve residents’ recycling capacity is to offer them easier access to extra clear recycling sacks. These will be available in bundles of 26 sacks from libraries, community centres, the Town Hall and the Central Depot, etc.
11 The Council will be employing a Waste Minimisation and Education Officers in 2006/07. This will be matched by WRG employing an Education Officer to run the Education Centre in the Kingsway waste management facility. The Council is also due to replace the current Recycling Bus in 2006/07. All of these initiatives will significantly improve the Council’s education and recycling awareness activities.
MEASURES TO MEET THE COUNCILS PSA 2 TARGETS FOR RECYCLING
12 One of the Council’s Public Service Agreement (PSA) 2 targets that will run from 2006/07 to 20008/09 will be for Waste and Recycling. The Council will be required to reach “stretch targets” in this area, and meet challenging increases in recycling rates.
13 The targets are split as two-thirds for non-biodegradable waste (items such as glass, cans, metals and plastics) and one-third biodegradable waste (including paper, cardboard and green waste). Textiles are counted as being 50% non- biodegradable and 50% biodegradable.
14 In order to meet these targets, the Council intends to add textile recycling to the mixed dry recyclable kerbside collections and to commence kerbside glass collection from 2007/08. A proposal is also being examined to collect mixed dry recyclables weekly when green waste is not collected for the six weeks around Christmas and the New Year. Other Councils have found that this a successful way of boosting mixed dry recyclable tonnages at a time when there is a peak supply of these materials.
15 Under the PSA scheme, the participating local authorities are given a pump-priming grant in Year 1 of the scheme. (In Luton case this amounts to just over £77,000 per scheme). The Council then has to fund Years 2 and 3 of the scheme. If the authority reaches its stretch targets, it is given a Performance Target Reward grant, which in Luton’s case will be over £468,000 per scheme.
16 The intention is to use the £77k to employ doorknockers to boost the Council’s recycling and green waste collection scheme participation rates. The improved collection schemes, including introducing kerbside glass collections, should enable the Council to meet its targets by 2008/09.
LEGAL IMPLICATIONS
17. There are no legal implications arising from this report. This has been agreed with the relevant solicitor in legal services on 19th may 2006.
APPENDIX
Appendix A - Expansion Areas For Green Waste Collections – 2006/07
APPENDIX A
EXPANSION AREAS FOR GREEN WASTE COLLECTIONS – 2006/07
WEEK 1
MONDAY
Ashton Road and roads off Sacks Stockwood Crescent Sacks Hibbert Street Sacks Castle Street Sacks Cambridge Street Sacks May Street Sacks Surrey Street Sacks
TUESDAY
Milton Road Bins Napier/Rothsay Road Sacks Grove Road area Sacks Inkerman Street area Sacks Hightown Road Bins Talbot Road Bins
WEDNESDAY
Dallow Road and roads off (town end) Bins Conway Road Bins Westbourne Road Bins Bury Park Road and roads off Bins Kenilworth Road and roads off Bins Leagrave Road (Bury Park end) Bins Maple Road East and West Bins
THURSDAY
Althorp Road and roads off Bins Norman Road Bins Holland Road and Court Bins Beaumont Road Bins Hockwell Ring area Bins Tophill estate Bins
FRIDAY
Repton Close Bins Southampton Gardens area Bins Arrow Close Bins Littlewood Croft area Bins
WEEK 2
MONDAY
Hillborough Road area Bins Stanley Street area Sacks Russell Rise area Bins Cowper Street Part Bins and Sacks Hartley Street Part Bins and Sacks Hartley Road Bins Hart Hill Drive and Lane Bins Crescent Rise Bins
TUESDAY
Villa Road Bins Cromwell Road Bins Butterworth Path area Sacks Waldeck Road area Bins Arncliffe Crescent Bins Wensleydale Bins William Street Bins
WEDNESDAY
Roads off Dunstable Road – Shaftsbury Rd to Churchill Rd Bins Roads off Dunstable Road – Ivy Road to Ash Road Sacks Pick up on some in fills: Hutton Close Bins Milligan Close Bins Millingham Close Bins
THURSDAY
Marsh Road and roads off Bins (including Mount Pleasant, etc.) Biscot Road and roads off Bins
FRIDAY
Already given access to green waste collections in early 2006:
Roads south of Lygetun Drive Bins Roads off of Henge Way Bins Olympic Close Bins Underwood Close Bins