Agenda item

To receive a report by John Coates, Head of Waste, in connection with the impact of the Government's Resources and Waste Strategy on Waste and Recycling in Lincolnshire)

Consideration was given to a report which set out the impact of the Government's resources and waste strategy on Waste and Recycling in Lincolnshire.  It was reported that the Government intended that the policy changes within their Resources and Waste Strategy which was published in late 2018 and would take effect from 2023.  The proposed policies would affect both the Districts as statutory collection authorities and the County Council as the statutory disposal authority.  The report presented outlined the policy changes proposed by the Government and considered their impact on the objectives of the Lincolnshire waste Partnership.

Members were provided with an opportunity to ask questions to the officers present in relation to the information contained within the report and some of the points raised during discussion included the following:

• P.155 highlighted the different types of packaging which could be recycled in Lincolnshire and it was queried when everything would be uniform, for example, glass was still collected separately in East Lindsey.  It was noted that South Holland had its own collection methodology, as did East Lindsey which had a major network of bottle banks. 
• It was noted that East Lindsey was looking to follow the rest of the districts in terms of glass collection, but it would cost a lot of money to implement.  Residents could still put bottles into their black (residual) bin, however, it was preferred that this did not happen.
• The visual nature of the leaflet made it unnecessary for it to be printed in multiple languages as residents could easily see what could go in each bin.
• It was confirmed that districts had already started rolling out the poster to residents, and was being used in their own publications.
• It was highlighted that there were two versions for Boston, and it was queried whether this was related to the paper and card trial taking place in some parts of the town, and it was confirmed that it was, as the paper and card needed to be separated from the rest of the recycling.
• It was queried whether there was an alternative word to use in place of 'contaminated' for bins within the trial area that contain paper and card which should have been separated.  However, it was highlighted that this was an industry recognised term.
• Participation of the paper and card trial had been good at 96%.
• In terms of waste from short term holiday lets, it was noted that there were 24,000 on the east coast.  It was queried what the distinction was between business waste and domestic waste from holiday lets.  It was acknowledged that this was one of Defra's areas to look at.  The next round of consultations would be coming out in 2020.  It was hoped that when an update report was produced for the Committee, there would be some further information on this.
• It was noted that by law a business was responsible for organising the appropriate disposal of any waste.
• There was a need to get uniformity in the material collected, and it was suggested that an 'if in doubt, leave it out' approach should be promoted.
• It was acknowledged that packaging was an issue as it would often state it was recyclable but it was not something that could be collected by the districts.

RESOLVED

            That the Committee supported the conclusions reached in the report.