Minutes:
The Overview and Scrutiny Officer referred to recent press articles that fell within the remit of Environment and Sustainable Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee.
The article were:
· Move to boost recycling by using labels everyone can understand – A clearer labelling system for packaging would be introduced to inform people what could and couldn’t be recycled. The current system was confusing and holding back the recycling rate, which had stalled in England at about 45 per cent. The means of delivering increased rates of recycling would ensure that people had a better understanding of what was recyclable and how to do it.
· Plastic bag sales in England down by a third in last year – Sales of single-use bags by all large retailers in 2018/19 slumped by 37% to 1.11bn compared with the previous year. Sales of plastic bags by the seven biggest supermarkets had plummeted by 90% since the levy was introduced in 2015. According to Defra, the average consumer in England now bought just 10 bags a year from the main supermarket retailers down from 140 bags in 2014, before the change came into force.
· Delight as County Durham received 12 Green flags again – Parks, cemeteries and crematoriums across County Durham had once again been awarded a prestigious national status for the third year in a row. A total of 12 sites had received the Green Flag accreditation by the environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy, in recognition of the excellent standards of maintenance and good practice that kept them looking great.
· We are super energy savers – Reducing carbon emission and saving millions of pounds a year had earned the Council the title of super energy savers. The council’s low carbon economy team had been praised by Interreg Europe for its use of energy monitoring software. As part of the LOCARBO project, which was funded by Interreg Europe, the council’s low carbon economy team was asked to produce examples of good practice to be shared amongst local authorities in partner countries.
Resolved: That the presentation be noted.