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Decision Maker: Executive Councillor for Climate Action and Environment
Decision status: Recommendations Approved
Is Key decision?: Yes
Is subject to call in?: No
Matter for Decision:
The Officer’s report set out options for change to the
domestic waste service and a methodology for considering these options.
Consultation with staff would be carried out under the
council’s Organisational Change Policy – October 2010.
The implementation of the agreed scenario would take
place in July 2012, with an extensive resident communications campaign prior to
this.
Decision of Executive Councillor for Environmental &
Waste Services:
(i)
Instructed the
Director of Environment to undertake consultation with the staff and unions
about a preferred option based on the scenarios set out in the foregoing report
and subject to modelling data to be provided at the meeting of the Committee on
10 January 2012.
(ii)
Instructed the Director of
Environment to implement the preferred option subject to the results of the
staff and union consultation and also subject to consultation with the
Executive Councillor, Chair and Opposition Spokespersons.
Reason for the Decision:
As set out in the
Officer’s report.
Any
alternative options considered and rejected:
Not applicable.
Scrutiny Considerations:
The committee
received a report from the Head of Refuse and Environment regarding the Route Optimisation Project for Refuse and Recycling Collections -
Options for Change.
The Officer also referred
to an addendum document available as part of the fourth circulation agenda.
In response to
Member’s questions the Executive Councillor for Environmental & Waste
Services plus Head of Refuse and Environment confirmed the following:
(i)
Waste
collections for new developments would be introduced wherever possible with the
same collection methodology for existing houses. This will standardise the
service wherever possible across the city, reducing the need for specific
vehicles for specific material and increasing the efficiency of the service.
The Environment Committee
authorised Executive Councillor, Chair and Spokes, in consultation with
officers to take the decision to implement the above in March 2010. As it is a
key decision affecting the whole City, it was decided to return it to scrutiny
committee.
Informal consultation would
be undertaken with refuse collection crews concerning the two options to seek
views on which is the most efficient. Formal consultation would then be
undertaken on the preferred option. The formal public consultation would
reflect feedback from the public survey, and provide a steer if opinions were
split in the crew's informal consultation. The aim was to ascertain route
practicability as opposed to purely cost savings.
(ii)
Officers were
in discussion with the contracted recycling company to ascertain if it was
feasible to take plastic containers under the current contract. South
Cambridgeshire District Council had different contract specifications with
another company, which required them to take plastic containers.
(iii)
The
introduction of in-cab technology aimed to provide information on when bins
were either put out or not for collection by households.
(iv)
Planning plus
Refuse and Environment Officers were undertaking joint work to model optimum
routes for refuse collection services. The software modelled rounds to service
properties on new and existing developments.
(v)
Information
concerning waste collection rounds was being compiled from various sources into
the model as part of the route optimisation review, to ensure that it would be
available in a central resource in future.
(vi)
Comments from
members of the public in the 2011 Waste & Recycling Strategy showed
opposition to microchipping bins to monitor recycling. Officers stated there
was no intention to microchip bins in future.
(vii)
A review of
waste composition would feed into waste collection scenarios as part of the
route optimisation review. This would be the basis of a strategy. For example,
a weekly bin collection may not be required if the public favoured green bins
(for food waste etc).
Recycling bank location and provision was also being considered as part
of the route optimisation review.
The Chair decided
that the recommendations highlighted in the Officer’s report should be voted on
and recorded separately:
The committee approved
recommendation (i) unanimously.
The committee approved
recommendation (ii) by 5 votes to 0.
The
Executive Councillor approved the recommendations.
Conflicts of interest declared
by the Executive Councillor (and any dispensations granted)
Not applicable.
Publication date: 07/02/2012
Date of decision: 10/01/2012