Members will be invited to nominate a Chair for the Task  and Finish Group.

Councillor Hughes was nominated to Chair the Task and Finish Group. This was seconded and approved. 

Decision

To appoint Councillor Hughes as Chair of the Behaviour Change and Waste Task and Finish Group.

Report of the Strategic Lead (Waste, Recycling and Street Cleansing)

This report provides the Task and Finish Group with an update on national and local campaigns, and the lessons learnt to address the issue of waste and influence behaviour change.

The Group considered the report of the Strategic Lead (Waste, Recycling and Street Cleansing) that provided Members with an update on national and local campaigns and the lessons learnt to address the issue of waste and influence behaviour change.

Officers referred to the main points and themes within the report which included: -

·         Providing a background to the Keep Manchester Tidy campaign;

·         A detailed schedule for these campaign activities in Manchester planned for 2018/19;

·         Information on the national campaigns launched by Keep Britain Tidy (KBT) during 2018/19;

·         A description of the KBT work, noting the strong focus on volunteering through their Litter Hero and Litter Ambassador schemes;

·         An update on the Keep Manchester Tidy local campaigns, including the targeted campaigns directed at flytipping, discarded cigarettes, left behind litter, littering from vehicles and dog fouling;

·         Information on the use of social media to promote campaigns and advertise community clean ups across Greater Manchester;

·         Information on the framework to measure and benchmark this activity; and

·         Lessons learnt and next steps.

Some of the key points that arose from the Group’s discussions were: -

·         Number plate recognition technology should be used to identify commercial vehicles that attended waste and recycling centres but did not enter and then flytipped;

·         A cost benefit analysis should be undertaken of the cost incurred to remove commercial waste that was flytipped compared to reducing the fee imposed to dispose of commercial waste at waste and recycling centres;

·         What work was being done to address the issue of irresponsible Private Landlords dumping rubbish, particularly in student areas at the end of tenancies, noting that this irresponsible behaviour often attracted others to do the same;

·         The need to champion good Private Landlords and work with professional organisations, such as the Residential Landlords Association and Association of Residential Letting Agents to raise awareness of this issue with their members;

·         How were the impact and outcomes of the various campaigns to be measured;

·         Bulky waste collections and how these could be managed to maximise the benefits to residents and reduce any additional charges to residents;

·         The need to engage with a range of partners in this activity, including the Canal and Rivers Trust and major land owners in the city;

·         Previous examples and lessons learnt of resident and community engagement, such as Respect Action Days that had been delivered with a range of partners, including the police and housing providers should be utilised to promote this activity;

·         Noting the effective campaigns designed by WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme) to improve recycling rates, were other targeted campaigns coordinated to utilise the lessons learnt;

·         Recognising that Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) needed to be supported to remove their bulky waste;     

·         What was being done with larger, national business to improve litter and waste;

·         Recognising the invaluable contribution that volunteers and litter ambassadors made to their local community and to inspire other residents;

·         Consideration should be given to introducing the Adopt Your Street campaign, that encouraged local people to volunteer to care  ...  view the full minutes text for item 2.

Report of the Governance and Scrutiny Support Unit

To review the Terms of Reference and work programme of the Task and Finish Group.

The Task and Finish Group considered the terms of reference and future work programme and were invited to make any amendments.

The Group recommended that the Scrutiny Support Officer contact all Members to obtain contact details of representatives from a range of residents groups from across the city. In consultation with the Chair a number of groups would be invited to the next meeting so that Members could learn of their experience in tackling waste in their community and neighbourhoods.

The date and time of the next meeting was to be agreed by the Chair in consultation with members of the Group.  

Decision

The Task and Finish Group recommend: -

1. That the Scrutiny Support Officer contact all Members to obtain contact details of representatives from a range of residents groups from across the city; and

2. In consultation with the Chair a number of groups will be invited to the next meeting of the Group so that Members can learn of their experience in tackling waste in their community and neighbourhoods; and

3. The date and time of the next meeting is to be agreed by the Chair in consultation with members of the Group.