Agenda item

Resolved:

The Committee requested that a draft version of the strategy is brought to a future meeting of the Committee.

Standing orders were suspended in order to enable the completion of Committee business.

Nigel Tyrell (Head of Environment) and Sam Kirk (Strategic Waste & Environment Manager) introduced the presentation and highlighted the following key points:

·         Waste collection generally is driven by the need to reduce the amount of waste going for disposal and increase the amount of recycling. Other local authorities have implemented services to reduce waste going to landfill by offsetting money saved from diverting waste from landfill to other means of disposal.

·         Lewisham’s case is slightly different as Lewisham invested early on in diverting waste and most waste is sent to the SELCHP facility which incinerates waste. Therefore there are no savings to be had from diverting waste from landfill to invest in new services.

·         The Council is in the final 10 years of its contract with SELCHP, after which costs will rise for using SELCHP, so there is a need to think about how waste will be collected and disposed of in the future.

·         The waste collection and disposal market is controlled by a small number of large operators, so it is a narrow marketplace that is easily changed by fluctuations in market forces.

·         Because of the high amount of incinerated waste and the way that recycling figures are calculated, Lewisham’s waste collection performance looks a lot worse than it actually is.

·         New Waste Regulations introduced in 2012 have changed requirements around collection and disposal and mean that local authorities should collect glass, metal, paper and plastic separately unless it is not technically, environmentally and economically practicable (TEEP) to do so.

·         Options for a changed service have been explored, with some options ruled out due to cost or non-compliance with regulations.

·         Initial costings have been carried out using the current marketplace and building in assumptions, but more sensitivity testing and updating will be done before firmer proposals come forward.

In response to questions from the Committee, Nigel Tyrell, Sam Kirk and Kevin Sheehan (Executive Director for Customer Services) provided the following information:

·         The proposed garden waste service would be an opt-in service, where people pay by direct debit and would opt out to stop receiving the service. Administration and sales support will need to be built into the service.

·         The garden waste bin will be on hire, using a similar approach to that used for trade waste. Different approaches are being considered to make sure that the service is effective and properly funded.

·         The new approach is based on street level properties. Flats, blocks and estates will need to be looked at separately.

·         The bin lids for large estate bins are being changed to make them more secure.

·         After 2024 the costs for using SELCHP will go up massively for Lewisham. When the current contract ends the good price we get now will end. It is likely that the plant itself will continue to function as a facility, and at the present time it is commercially viable.

·         A lot more work needs to be carried out on the strategy before a draft version is prepared and consultation will need to be carried out as this will be a major change to the service.

Resolved:

The Committee requested that a draft version of the strategy is brought to a future meeting of the Committee.