Agenda and minutes

It was proposed, seconded and

RESOLVED

            That Councillor E J Poll be elected as Chairman of the Lincolnshire Waste Partnership for the year 2020 – 2021.

It was proposed, seconded and

RESOLVED

            That Councillor R Gambba-Jones be elected as the Vice-Chairman of the Lincolnshire Waste Partnership for the year 2020 - 2021

There were no apologies for absence.

There were no declarations of interest at this point in the meeting.

RESOLVED

That the minutes of the meeting held on 5 March 2020 be agreed and signed by the Chairman subject to the following points being noted:

·         In the apologies, Councillor Head was recorded as representing East Lindsey District Council instead of North Kesteven District Council.

·         Minute number 26 – last line replace 'by' with 'be'.

(To provide an opportunity for members to update Partners of anything that may be of interest)

Each Partner authority was provided with the opportunity to update the rest of the Partnership on any developments or updates which may be of interest to the Partnership.  The following was noted:

South Kesteven District Council

It was reported that staffing levels were now starting to return to normal.  The green waste collection service had continued, with high demand for this service and a further 1000 new customers had signed up.  Additional funding had been allocated to ensure the demand can be met. 

The district was also working closely with the County Council on One Public Estate.

The Chairman congratulated the district for continuing the service as normally as possible, and thanked all involved for their work.

Boston Borough District Council

Officers thanked David Steels from North Kesteven District Council who was stepping down as Chairman of the Strategic Officer Working Group after 18 months, and had done a fantastic job as Chairman during this time.

It was reported that the district had managed to maintain waste collection services throughout the pandemic, and there had been a commitment from the Partnership to ensure that services could continue through a rapidly evolving situation.

It was also reported that the district had also seen a significant change in the amount of fly-tipping, which had also been highlighted in the press.  The amounts of fly tipping being reported in the last three months had doubled when compared with the same time the previous year.  It was noted that this pattern was being replicated across the Partnership.  It was suggested that this needed to be a priority going into 2021.

It was highlighted that the plans for the Boston Alternative Energy Facility or gasification facility had been paused and there was now a new energy from waste facility proposal.  This would have the same amount of residual waste throughput, of 1.3m tonnes per annum.  The consultation was due to start in the coming weeks.  A report would be presented to the scrutiny committee in August 2020 and officers were happy to share any further information with the Partnership.

It was queried whether there was any indication of the costs of clearing up the fly tipped waste, and whether there was any hazardous waste amongst it.  The Partnership was advised that the costs were being investigated and the type of waste being seen in volume of van loads and car loads, consisting of building waste, white goods, mattresses etc.

In terms of the additional residual waste being collected, it was queried whether there were any questions being asked of commercial operators regarding their volumes of waste and if there was any correlation.  It was queried whether more waste was being generated or whether there had just been a shift in the direction of the collection as more people worked from home.  It was acknowledged that this was something which was being investigated.

The following suggestions were made in relation to an approach to tackling fly tipping:

·         All districts should consider increasing their communications around warning  ...  view the full minutes text for item 36.

(To receive a presentation which sets out the operational response to Covid-19 by the Lincolnshire Waste Partnership)

The Partnership received an update from David Steels, North Kesteven District Council, which set out the Partnership's operational response to Covid-19.

It was reported that the Partnership had worked together well to ensure that districts responded to all situations and put safety first.  The public were also thanked for their positive feedback for the waste collection and disposal infrastructure.  A lot of work had gone into getting to this position and to be able to maintain the collection and disposal rates with minimal disruption.

In terms of tonnages, it had been possible to maintain the service in a way that was Covid-compliant.  There had been a marked increase in residual waste.

A review of rounds had been carried out in East Lindsey which had been an additional impact to deal with.   There had been good working relationships throughout the Partnership and it was now in a better position to be able to respond in the future, and it was noted that there were a number of things which had been implemented which would not change.

(To receive a report by Matthew Michell, LCC Waste Strategy Manager, which provides Partners with the opportunity to consider the draft Lincolnshire Waste Partnership Annual Report for 2019/20)

Consideration was given to a report which provided the Lincolnshire Waste Partnership with the opportunity to consider its Annual Report for 2019/20.  It was noted that in January 2019 the Partnership adopted a new Waste Strategy for Lincolnshire and in order to monitor progress towards achieving the strategic objectives the Partnership committed to produce an Annual Report.  The first report covered the year from April 2019 to March 2020.  It was noted that there were two versions of the report, one of which was a more summarised version for members of the public.

It was commented that this was a very good report and one member highlighted objectives 9 and 10 of the report.  It was noted that it was important to have a forward looking Partnership and to always be looking for innovation.

The Chairman commented that a better level of recycling was starting to be seen and he was looking forward to seeing significant improvements to recycling being made.

It was queried how it was planned to distribute the document to as wide a population as possible, as there would be a number of schools who would be interested in receiving it.  There was also a suggestion that the recycling messages needed to also be communicated to the non-english speaking communities.  In terms of publicity, it was acknowledged that this was something that needed to be examined, but it was also noted that it was not likely that hard copies of the report would be produced.  However, the report would be available electronically.

It was reported that in terms of communications, there was some very good joint working taking place with communications colleagues.  The language issues would be looked into further to ensure that it was fully accessible.  The communications teams were aware that they would be assisting with the promotion of the report.

RESOLVED

That the Lincolnshire Waste Partnership approved both documents as ready for publication as the Lincolnshire Waste Partnership Annual Report 2019/20

(To receive a report by Rachel Stamp, LWP Programme Delivery Manager, which provides partners with an update on the paper and card trial)

Consideration was given to a report which provided the Partnership with an update on the paper and card trial which commenced in July 2019.  It was highlighted that the LWP had previously agreed to commence a trial to collect paper and card separately from the rest of the mixed dry recycling.  Households from three waste collection authorities were selected for involvement in the trial – Boston Borough Council, North Kesteven District Council and South Holland District Council.  Paper and card was collected from just over 7000 households and was sent to a dedicated processor.  So far 373 tonnes of paper and card had been collected during the trial, and the quality reports of the material collected were consistently high at 99.12%.  Work to engage with members of the public who were participating in the trial was continuing.  The trial had been particularly well received by residents in Boston Borough and the majority were happy with the size of the bins provided.  It was noted that the survey had been carried out before the Covid-19 pandemic.  94% of the residents taking part in the trial had indicated that they would like to carry on separating the paper and card.

One member commented that they were very supportive of the trial, but there were concerns that in Boston there were a lot of Victorian and narrow streets, and there were some access issues particularly where residents may leave the bins out on the roadside, which could cause a problem for people with push chairs, or in wheel chairs.  It was acknowledged that there would be a need to look carefully at what residents were given to separate paper and card into.

In terms of the mixed dry recycling, it was commented that there had been a programme on TV a few weeks earlier which had showed UK recycling being shipped to countries such as Turkey.  It was suggested that there was a need to ensure that Lincolnshire's dry recycling did not leave the county.  It was noted that the waste and recycling industry was international, however with recent events there had been restrictions on imports imposed, and so there was a need to be more independent and it was hoped that policy changes would drive some of that infrastructure which would be needed.  There was a need to create a market for Lincolnshire's recycled material, by ensuring it was of the highest quality.  It was noted that this was a key part of the 10 year plan.  It was also highlighted that Lincolnshire's waste was disposed of and processed as close to the county as possible. 

RESOLVED

1.    That further investigation take place to determine the options set out in the report in order to understand the implications of rolling out the initiative across the county.

2.    To concentrate on the communication and engagement activities to reduce the levels of contamination in the MDR stream and gather data to understand effectiveness.

(To receive a verbal update by John Coates, Head of Waste (LCC), on the Mixed Dry Recycling contract)

John Coates, Head of Waste (Lincolnshire County Council) provided the Partnership with an update in relation to the mixed dry recyclables (MDR) contract.  It was reported that the contract had been awarded to Mid-UK recycling and commenced on 1 July 2020.  They would utilise the facilities of Caythorpe and Barkwith.  The contract would allow for separate waste streams to be collected and would achieve savings in the long term.

(To receive a report by Matthew Michell, Waste Strategy Manager, which provides the Partners with an opportunity to consider progress against the three KPI's associated with the Lincolnshire Waste Partnership)

Consideration was given to a report which set out progress against new Key Performance Indicators (KPI) agreed by the Partnership in November 2019 to measure progress against the vision and objectives set out in its Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy (JMWMS).  The KPI's would relate to four strategic themes:

·         Waste hierarchy – how well waste minimisation and recycling was being prioritised;

·         Contamination – recycling contamination rate (kerbside recycling);

·         Carbon – overall LWP waste management carbon footprint (per head);

·         Customer friendly – satisfaction with waste collections/HWRC's.

It was noted that the data presented covered the year to March 2020 and therefore pre-dated the main effected of the Covid-19 situation.  Specific data in relation to this would be reported to the LWP separately.

It was reported that there had been a slight increase in kg's collected per household of recyclable materials.  It was noted that the recycling rates were going in the right direction with an increased quantity and also the percentage of contamination had reduced slightly.

It was also noted that there had been an increase in green waste, however, it was acknowledged that this was variable depending on weather conditions.  There had been a general downward trend in the amount of green waste collected so a continued increase may not be seen.

There had been a change in tonnages collected since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.  It was also noted that the closure of the HWRC's for a couple of months will have had an effect, as the recycling rates for these sites was very high.  However, it was hoped that things would continue to move in the right direction.

Thanks were given to the LCC Waste Strategy Manager for the support and assistance provided to the officer working group in analysing the data.

RESOLVED

1.    That the Lincolnshire Waste Partnership notes the charts and commentary provided in relation to the Waste Hierarchy;

2.    That the Lincolnshire Waste Partnership notes the plans set out in the report for the future reporting of KPI's for the Contamination, Carbon and Customer Friendliness themes.

(To consider and approve the meeting dates for the Lincolnshire Waste Partnership for 2021 as set out below:

·         Thursday, 4 March 2021 – 11.00am

·         Thursday, 8 July 2021 – 11.00am

·         Thursday, 18 November 2021 – 11.00am)

RESOLVED

That the following meeting dates for the Lincolnshire Waste Partnership in 2021 be approved:

·         Thursday, 4 March 2021 – 11.00am

·         Thursday, 8 July 2021 – 11.00am

·         Thursday, 18 November 2021 – 11.00am

The Lincolnshire Waste Partnership considered its forward plan and the following was noted:

·         The second round of consultations from Defra were now unlikely to happen until Spring 2021 and it was suggested this should be added to the agenda for the meeting scheduled for 4 March 2021.

·         It was noted that the draft response for the consultation on a plastics tax would be circulated to Partners as the response date had been pushed back to the middle of August 2020.