Report of the Strategic Director (Neighbourhoods)

The management of household waste is one of the key functions of the Local Authority and is a service of significant importance to every resident of the city.  It is recognised that the current cleansing service standards are inconsistent across the city and do not meet the expectations of members and residents.  The future delivery arrangements for the service need to ensure that the additional investment identified within the budget generates the maximum return and improvement. 

The current contract for waste collection and street cleansing expires in 2038 but has two extension periods (2023 and 2031). As part of the commissioning cycle, the Council has reviewed the priorities for the next period and considered which delivery model can achieve these and Best Value. The continuation of the contract with Biffa has been assessed as the most effective option.

A service improvement programme and monitoring mechanism is being developed to ensure that arrangements for the next period deliver against the required improvement in outcomes.

The Committee considered the report of the Strategic Director (Neighbourhoods) that described that the management of household waste is one of the key functions of the Local Authority and was a service of significant importance to every resident of the city.  It was recognised that the current cleansing service standards were inconsistent across the city and did not meet the expectations of Members and residents. The future delivery arrangements for the service needed to ensure that the additional investment identified within the budget generated the maximum return and improvement. 

The current contract for waste collection and street cleansing expired in 2038 but had two extension periods (2023 and 2031). As part of the commissioning cycle, the Council had reviewed the priorities for the next period and considered which delivery model could achieve these and Best Value.

Key points and themes in the report included:

·         Providing an introduction and the Policy Framework background;

·         An overview of the GM Refuse & Recycling Contract (Pre-2009)

·         Information relating to the Greater Manchester Waste Levy;

·         An overview of the current service;

·         Performance information and feedback;

·         A description of the Resources & Waste Strategy (RaWS) for England (2018);

·         Service Improvement and the Service Improvement Programme Timescales, noting that this was subject to final approval;

·         The delivery model;

·         Conclusions and the decision making process; and

·         The continuation of the contract with Biffa had been assessed as the most effective option.

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

·         Requesting Quarterly update reports on the Waste and Recycling Service, including Biffa performance data;

·         The need to monitor activities such as the collection of side waste from communal containers;

·         A strategy was required to ensure that all Registered Housing Providers took responsibility for managing and removing waste from all of the spaces they were responsible for;

·         A report was requested that described the implications of Household Waste and Recycling Centres’ policies and incidents of flytipping;

·         Consideration needed to be given to the timely issuing of licenses for the positioning of skips on highways and the lifting of parking restrictions to allow reputable waste management companies to access locations to remove waste;

·         More needed to be done to improve recycling rates, noting the impact this could have on carbon emissions and further promotion of the circular economy;

·         The sweeping of cycle lanes needed to be improved and be future proofed to manage the demand on this service as more active travel schemes were delivered;

·         The need to recognise that the types of waste issues experienced were different in different wards and a ‘one size fits all’ approach was not appropriate, adding that meetings should be convened with ward Members to understand their specific issues and challenges experienced;

·         The staff behaviours of Biffa crews needed to improve to ensure they delivered the levels of service that was expected;

·         CCTV should be used to identify perpetrators of fly tipping in hot spots, noting that this would also assist with any subsequent convictions;

·         More needed to be done to promote the bulky waste collection service, particularly to residents living in apartment blocks;

·         The Customer Relationship Management (CRM) needed to be improved to give both Members and residents confidence when reporting issues relating to waste and fly tipping;

·         Noting that it was national Food Waste week;

·         Consideration needed to be given to delivering targeted waste and recycling campaigns during specific faith celebrations; and

·         Seeking an assurance that a representative from the service would be present at the planned School and Climate Action Conference in June.

The Strategic Lead, Waste Recycling and Street Cleansing supported the recommendation to provide quarterly progress reports, adding that the issues raised relating to side waste in communal bin areas, staff behaviours and the cleansing of cycleways were included within the Service Improvement Plan.

The Strategic Lead, Waste Recycling and Street Cleansing accepted the invitation for a representative from her service to attend the School and Climate Action Conference, adding that Biffa did engage with schools on the issue of waste and recycling. She stated that all channels of communication and engagement needed to be utilised to influence behaviour change.

The Strategic Lead, Waste Recycling and Street Cleansing commented that a review of the bulky waste collection service would be undertaken to understand further the use of this service with the intention to optimise its use. She informed the Committee that the replacement of the CRM system was underway, and her service had been involved in the ask of the new system so as to address the issues identified by the Members and deliver an improved system. She commented recycling rates needed to improve adding further that more needed to be done to promote the circular economy with an emphasis on repair and reuse. She added that more needed to be done to promote and connect residents to these opportunities, adding that this would be a key action to progress.

The Director of Commercial and Operations commented that investment had been made into CCTV systems to tackle fly tipping, adding that the operation of CCTV was subject to specific legal guidance.

The Executive Member for Environment stated that she was committed to improving the service by working with Biffa and the delivery of the Service Improvement Plan. She stated that it was everyone’s collective responsibility to reduce the incidents of littering and the appropriate management of waste.

Decision

To note the report.