The Director of Environment and Highways introduced the report and stated that in December 2018 Central Government issued their waste strategy for England with a focus on re-use, recycling and reducing packaging. She added that the Telegraph recently ran an article stating that “recycling rates have stalled at 45% since 2017”, with an impact assessment by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs accepting the UK will miss its target of 65% waste recycled by 2035. She added that Thurrock’s recycling rates had stagnated in the last few years at 36/37%. The Director of Environment and Highways requested that the Committee agree a sub working group be established to consider opportunities available and produce a vision statement by December 2019, enabling officers to draft a new waste strategy in the first quarter of the calendar year, with consultation and adoption of the strategy to follow. She added that in December 2020 the waste disposal contracts were up for renewal, with an option to extend, and felt it was essential that the new strategy inform future contract procurement.

Councillor Mayes commented that the report stated a new waste strategy would be ready in June 2020, and asked if this would give officers enough time to organise the procurement process. The Director of Environment and Highways replied that if the vision statement remains similar then it would be possible to organise a procurement process in time for December 2020. She stated that if there was significant change, then the contracts could be extended for up to two years. Councillor Mayes felt that the separation of recycling, as outlined in the report, could be a good strategy, and asked if the team had considered the size of bins. The Director of Environment and Highways stated that this would form part of the review. She referred to the central government strategy, which was seeking increased recycling, stating that over the coming years central government would be undertaking consultation on issues such as free garden waste collection and whether food waste should be separated. Should the working group be approved she suggested that the first meeting be held in Bywaters Recycling Centre so Members could see first-hand where recycling is managed. The Director of Environment and Highways summarised that an annual increase in property number, also put pressure on waste management, as an increase of only 6000 homes meant an additional 3 crews were needed, one for each waste stream.

Councillor Rigby asked if the new system of placing stickers on contaminated bins was having an effect on recycling rates. The Director of Environment and Highways stated that the idea was working well, and added that in-cab facilities were due to go live in July, which would enable crews to input data as to why the bin was contaminated. She explained how in the future this would enable the Contact Centre to provide up to the minute updates in response to residents calling in to report missed collections. She commented that by not only advising the resident that the bin had not been collected due to contamination, that would help educate residents in what could and could not be recycled. Councillor Lawrence asked if new stickers could also be placed on bins. The Director of Environment and Highways explained that a pilot scheme was being undertaken in commercial buildings and flats which would help increase the amount of recycling, and where successful the promotional materials could be rolled out across the borough. Councillor Mayes highlighted point 3.1.4 of the agenda, and asked why other local authorities had increased recycling rates in comparison to Thurrock. The Director of Environment and Highways responded in most cases those local authorities had moved to two-weekly or three-weekly bin collections. She stated that the working group would also be encouraged to visit some best-performing recycling authorities to enable best practice to inform the new waste strategy.

RESOLVED: That:

1. The Committee agreed to a cross-party working group being formed. The purpose of the group to review current Waste arrangements from collection through to disposal and potential commercial operating solutions for Thurrock. The group tasked with producing a vision statement by December 2019, with a new waste strategy/policy to be drafted in the last quarter of the financial year and for agreement and adoption in June 2020.

2. The Committee agreed that the working group would be a sub-group of Cleaner, Greener and Safer Overview and Scrutiny Committee with a minimum of two members from each political party.