Agenda item

(To receive a report which updates the Partnership on the progress against the Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy Action Plan)

Consideration was given to a report which provided Partners with an update on the Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy (JMWMS) action plan.  It was noted that the action plan detailed the actions and projects in place to deliver the objectives of the JMWMS adopted in January 2019.

It was reported that fly tipping remained high on the action plan, and it was suggested that this was added to the Partnership's forward plan and regular updates were received.  It was also noted that a draft of the Annual Report should be available for comment by the end of July 2021.

In relation to the paper and card collection roll out, it was noted that there was participation of around 99%, and the quality of the material being collected was very high.  The tonnage over the first three collections had continued to increase.

The sampling station was proving invaluable, and it was noted that first collection sampled was 35% contamination, since the introduction of the separate paper and card collections, the quality of material collected had increased, and contamination had reduced to 20% after four weeks.  Where a bin had not been collected, the residents had been advised why the bin was not collected.

Partners were provided with the 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:

·         Information was still awaited on the effects of composting on recycling rates;

·         It was noted that the largest amount of contamination was from soft plastics, plastic bags, films etc.

·         The Waste Partnership and Projects Manager and her team was congratulated for getting the paper and card collections up and running, and noted that the key to success in the long term would be education.  One of the Partners commented that they had been involved with the trial and had observed that the majority of people wanted to do the right thing.  Most of the confusion arose from when items were marked as recyclable, but could not be recycled by a particular office.  It was commented that it was the responsibility of all elected members to help to support the message of what could be recycled. 

·         In terms of the total tonnages, it was queried whether there was any comparison of what the tonnages would have been if there hadn't been the separation of paper and card.  It was queried whether this was encouraging people to recycle more or to recycle better.  Members were advised that this data was not available at this time, but there was a need to compare the impact on residual waste stream.  Initial data suggested that paper had been removed from the residual waste stream.  This would be next phase of data reconciliation.

·         There was still work for the Partnership to do in relation to how businesses package products with more people now buying online.

·         It was noted that tourism was a big part of the Lincolnshire economy, and it was queried whether there could be some sort of communications plan about asking visitors to take their rubbish home with them.

RESOLVED

            That the contents of the action plan be noted and that the Lincolnshire Waste Partnership receive regular updates.