(Waste and Recycling Manager) To receive a verbal report / presentation.
Minutes:
Q Durrani, Service Director (Contracts and Technical Services) and D Marsh, Waste and Recycling Manager, were in attendance.
The Government had published a new waste strategy – Our waste, our resources: a strategy for England. The strategy was seeking to preserve material resources by minimising waste and promoting resource efficiency. The Government was setting a clear, ambitious policy direction that was linked to the 25-year target of its Environment Plan.
Government strategy was to encourage producers to take responsibility. The waste industry was not too keen to recycle plastics, but the Government objectives included a drive to reuse and recycle, especially to incentivise recycling by ultimately eliminating all avoidable waste within 30 years and double resource productivity. It would have a significant impact on the Council.
Four consultations had been published with a deadline for responses by 13 May 2019. They were aimed not just across production but all costs back to recovery and to reduce all waste going to landfill. These consultations were:
(1) Consultation on reforming the UK Packaging Producer Responsibility System.
(2) Consultation on consistency on Household and Business Recycling Collections in England.
(3) Introducing a deposit return scheme (DRS) in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
(4) Consultation: A plastics tax on non-recycled content packaging.
The Government was seriously looking at all aspects of the waste industry, and it was anticipated that the results of the consultations would be announced by the third quarter.
(1) Consultation on reforming the UK Packaging Producer Responsibility System
The principle of ‘polluter pays’ was being reinforced in that producers would bear the full cost of managing their products at the end of their life. There was an onus on incentivising greater reuse through design and the use of appropriate enforcement if this was required. A target date of 2023 had been set for when the new packaging Extended Producer Responsibility scheme became operational.
(2) Consultation on consistency on Household and Business Recycling Collections in England
This was to do with consistent recycling collections whether from residents in houses or flats and from businesses. The use of separate food waste collections for households and businesses and whether there should be colour standardisation for the bins/containers. There was a drive for greater efficiency of energy from waste and to assess any barriers on the use of recycled materials to increase market use. Other areas being consulted on were to tackle hazardous waste, to explore alternatives to weight based measures and develop new performance indicators. Also the evaluation of the necessary funding for the new burdens.
(3) Consultation on introducing a deposit return scheme (DRS) in England, Wales and Northern Ireland
Thirteen billion plastic bottles were used each year in the UK which resulted in three billion being incinerated, left as litter or sent to landfill. Q Durrani and D Marsh had attended a roadshow on 19 March 2019 to learn more about the Government’s plan to introduce a DRS for single use drinks containers made of plastic, glass or metal and how the scheme would work to increase recycling rates. The impact of the scheme on the Council’s recycling stream raised many questions and could have a significant effect on costs.
Q Durrani asked if the select committee would approve the final response before the consultations closed on 13 May 2019, and that this could be publicised in the Council Bulletin.
Councillor A Patel asked how members should respond to these consultations. Q Durrani replied that the intention was for a collective view. It would be difficult to assess how much the potential new legislation would impact on the waste collection authorities and the waste contractors. The Government’s new waste strategy was to incentivise the industry. This would be a challenge but what would happen if the waste authorities failed to comply.
Councillor A Patel asked if the Government’s new national waste strategy would have a future impact on the way the Council’s waste contractor collected waste in the District. Q Durrani replied that it could have an impact in future and would necessitate discussions with Biffa to come to an agreement.
Councillor N Bedford asked what municipal solid waste meant, to which D Marsh replied it was any waste the authority collected within legislation and was classed as MS waste.
Councillor N Bedford said if there was 60 to 70 per cent of imported waste, how would this affect the levy in China? D Macnab replied that the packaging legislation was on the producers or distributors of those goods. For instance, motor vehicles were imported into the UK and sold by the manufacture, but they had to adhere to the legislation.
Councillor N Bedford commented on the 500-page consultation document and if it was desirable that officers pushed forward a response on these consultation reports. D Macnab replied that it was to do with the practicalities around four consultation exercises and the consistency of the Council. Members agreed the Service Director (Contract and Technical Services) would draft responses to these four consultations, subject to final approval by the Contract and Technical Services Portfolio Holder, Councillor N Avey, and the Chairman of the Neighbourhoods Select Committee, Councillor N Bedford. The response would be published in the Council Bulletin in due course.
Councillor J H Whitehouse asked if the 500-page consultation document could be publicised in the Council Bulletin. D Macnab agreed that information on this would be useful. D Marsh would collate all the member responses and was tasked with providing the relevant weblinks to enable members to view all the consultation documents.
RESOLVED:
That, subject to final approval by the Contract and Technical Services Portfolio Holder and the Chairman of the Neighbourhoods Select Committee, the Service Director (Contracts and Technical Services) submit a response on the Council’s behalf before the deadline of these consultations closed.