Agenda item

Purpose of Report

To provide the Executive with an opportunity to consider the new draft Municipal Waste Strategy document for Lincolnshire.

Decision

That the Executive:

(1)       Endorses the proposed Municipal Waste Management Strategy attached at Appendix A to the report, subject to the Strategy in the same form being formally adopted by all waste collection authorities in Lincolnshire.

(2)       Agrees that funding be used from the Business Rate pilot 2018/19 as the City of Lincoln Council’s contribution towards the shared post of project manager for the Lincolnshire Waste Partnership.

Alternative Options Considered and Rejected

None.

Reason for Decision

The Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy for Lincolnshire attempted to set out how members of the Lincolnshire Waste Partnership could work together to protect the environment by delivering sustainable waste management services through the establishment of best value waste management practices across the county.

At the meeting of the Lincolnshire Waste Partnership on 8 March 2018 the draft Strategy was approved for public consultation, which was launched on 4 April 2018 and closed on 2 July 2018. During this period the draft Strategy was submitted to the City Council’s Policy Scrutiny Committee for consideration. Feedback was minuted and taken into account as part of redrafting the Strategy.

The Strategy encompassed ten proposed objectives, noted as follows:

(i)            to improve the quality and therefore commercial value of our recycling stream;

(ii)          to move towards a common set of recycling materials;

(iii)         to consider the introduction of separate food waste collections where technically, environmentally and economically practicable;

(iv)         to explore new opportunities of promoting waste minimisation and of using all waste as a resource in accordance with the waste hierarchy;

(v)          to contribute to the UK recycling targets of 50% by 2020 and 55% by 2025;

(vi)         to find the most appropriate ways to measure our environmental performance and set appropriate targets;

(vii)        to seek to reduce our carbon footprint;

(viii)       to make an objective assessment of what further waste processing/disposal capacity is required and, as necessary, secure appropriate capacity;

(ix)         to regularly review the Lincolnshire Waste Partnership governance model in order to provide the best opportunity to bring closer integration and the implementation of the objectives set by the strategy;

(x)          to consider appropriate innovative solutions in the delivery of our waste management services.

In order to achieve these objectives the Strategy was accompanied by an action plan which would be reviewed and revised annually to ensure that it remained up to date and addressed any new challenges arising during the lifetime of the Strategy. It was noted that the Council would not be signing up to the content of the action plan at this stage, with the Strategy document being that which was currently in the process of going through the decision-making processes of all local authorities in the county.

All members of the Lincolnshire Waste Partnership, apart from one, had agreed to jointly fund a project manager to support the work programme arising from the action plan. This was estimated to cost in the order of £9,500 per annum and would be funded for three years. It was proposed that this funding be met from the 2018/19 business rate pilot.

Councillor Fay Smith, Portfolio Holder for Remarkable Place, reported that she and officers had spent a lot of time on this and that it did feel as though development of the Strategy was being delivered in partnership with the County Council. She highlighted that the City Council was slightly different to the other authorities in the county due to the fact that they had their own collection services whereas the City Council sub-contracted waste collection out to a third party. She fully supported the objectives in the Strategy document and hoped the City Council and wider Partnership achieved them.

Councillor Jackie Kirk highlighted that, in respect of recycling, education would be a fundamental element of improving performance with contamination being a big issue.

Councillor Rosie Kirk was concerned about the closure of the Whisby Household Waste Recycling Centre which she felt had resulted in an increase in flytipping in the area and added to the congestion in the city due to people having to travel to the centre at Great Northern Terrace. She questioned whether this was something that could be re-visted with the County Council. Councillor Smith clarified that the Lincolnshire Waste Partnership was looking at other schemes to tackle the issue of contamination, such as the food waste pilot at South Kesteven. It was noted that comments in respect of the Whisby Household Waste Recycling Centre would be fed into the next cycle of meetings for the Partnership, although it was understood that there were currently no plans to re-open the site.