Agenda item

The Committee considered the report of the Corporate Management Team which presented progress against the Councils corporate performance framework for the Altogether Greener priority theme for the second quarter of the 2017/18 financial year (for copy of report, see file of minutes).

The Corporate Scrutiny and Performance Manager was in attendance to give a presentation on the Altogether Greener priority theme performance and key performance messages. The Corporate Scrutiny and Performance Manager provided information on the current situation with the Chinese import ban on plastics and how this would impact on kerbside recycling and Household Waste Recycling Centres.  Members were advised that O’Brien’s outlets were secure and the quality of plastics meets Chinese specifications. Contractual arrangements ensure there is a shared risk between the authority and the contractor and takes into account market price variability and contamination levels. With regard to Household Waste Recycling Centres plastics was a small proportion of throughput.

Members were then provided with a chart that showed the percentage of household waste sent for reuse, recycling and composting by Local Authorities in 2016/17, Durham County Council recycles approximately 42.4%, the authority with the best recycling figure was East Riding of Yorkshire, which recycles 65.4% of its waste and the authority with the worst figure was the London Borough of Newham, which recycles 14.1% of its waste. However recycling is different from authority to authority and depends on collections and how the waste is sorted. Members were also provided with a graph indicating the number of fly-tipping incidents.

Councillor Jopling asked what the council were doing to increase the recycling rate.

The Corporate Scrutiny and Performance Manager responded that a pilot had been undertaken with a third sector organisation and he would obtain further details on the pilot.

Councillor Jopling then asked in relation to fly tipping if the service undertook special targeting programmes similar to the police Drink-Drive campaign.

The Corporate Scrutiny and Performance Manager indicated that they undertake a range of environmental campaigns on fly tipping but these were not seasonal. The service did education in particular with the building trade and used social media to publicise enforcement action taken.

The Chairman commented that there was no pattern to fly-tipping and the service used cameras and highlighted action taken.

Mr Bolton referred to a recent radio interview with the Portfolio Holder at Birmingham City Council who had asked for high quality plastics to be used in light of the government initiative. He asked what advice should be given to local residents as there was still a lot of uncertainty of what plastics can be recycled.

The Chairman responded that each authority had different schemes which made it confusing for anyone new to the area. Durham County Council produce an information leaflet which clearly indicates what can go into each bin, stickers are also placed on bins and information is provided to households. The Council also does a comprehensive sorting of the household waste.

The Corporate Scrutiny and Performance Manager indicated that there was a wide variety of different plastics and the advice would be if in doubt place it into the recycling bin as it would be sorted at O’Brien’s. He also referred to the new DEFRA regulations which could result in a change and maybe recycle more. The news at present is to avoid using plastics in the first place.

The Chairman referred to the Motion that was going to the next Council meeting on single use plastics which could be something that this committee would consider.

Councillor Sexton referred to the problems in his area with bulky waste in particular white goods and scrap metal dealers who trespass on people’s property and steel metal goods. He asked if there was a list available of licensed scrap metal dealers.

The Corporate Scrutiny and Performance Manager responded that the Safer and Stronger OSC did a piece of work on Metal Theft.  Scrap metal collects should have a Scrap Metal Dealers Licence which is issued by the local authority to collect scrap metal in a specific locations within County Durham. The Police and Trading Standards did carry out checks and there is a licensing system in place.

Councillor Clare commented that fly-tipping figures were down the last two quarters and were better than previous years. The advice he gave to his constituents on plastics was if in doubt place it in your general waste bin. General waste was burnt rather than sent to landfill. He then referred to the state of bridges not being a performance indicator and asked if this could be included.

The Head of Technical Services indicated that he was happy to facilitate the request.

The Corporate Scrutiny and Performance Manager advised Members that there was a set list of performance indicators and the indicator could be added as a standard indicator or add as an escalation. Bridges could be a standard performance indicator or a feed in. He also clarified that advice about placing plastics in the recycling bin received from the service was in regard to hard plastics. Things like polythene bags and cling film are not recyclable and should be placed in the bin for residual waste.

Resolved: (i) That the report be noted.

(ii) That bridge structures be included in the standard list of performance indicators.