Agenda item

The Sub Committee had before it a report by the Interim Director of Communities, Housing and Infrastructure which sought approval to introduce cost recovery for postage costs associated with posting bioliners to residents.

The report recommended:

that the Sub Committee support the proposal to introduce a charge to cover the postage costs for bioliners and refer the report to the Finance, Policy and Resources Committee for formal approval.

Ms Walker spoke to the report and advised that an overspend on the postal budget had been highlighted to all services by Facilities and the postage costs associated with bioliners played a significant role in this, which had led to the report before members.  Ms Walker highlighted that bioliners would still be supplied free of charge; it was the postage costs that were being considered.  She advised that since the introduction of the food recycling service, postage costs had increased considerably with an increase in costs of approximately £15,000.  The report stated that those residents who were registered for the assisted collection service would continue to be supplied with liners by post free of charge.  The customer service contact centre had records of assisted collections and therefore details of the residents who would be entitled to receive bioliners free of postal charges could be easily and immediately identified.  Ms Walker highlighted that the recent coverage in the local press had worked in favour of the service in that it had highlighted the availability of free bioliners and the collection points to the general public but acknowledged that more needed to be done to publicise this.

In response to suggestions of increasing the number of collection points, Ms Walker advised that this may incur additional costs to add collection points to the route that the officer involved covered and collection points had to be kept well stocked to ensure an adequate supply for residents.  Ms Walker further advised that the proposed charge for postal services would be subject to a further report once approval of the charge in principle was in place and full costings had been investigated.

The replenishment process for residents within Aberdeenshire was referred to, however Ms Walker advised that the food recycling service operated differently in Aberdeen city due to the communal bins and the larger wheeled bins used in the City in comparison to the small caddies used in Aberdeenshire, officers felt that the risk and impracticability to the public of retrieving rolls of bioliners from the bottom of deeper bins was too high for this to be an option.  Ms Walker highlighted the technical restrictions of hanging a bag or hanger to bins and advised that discussions for options to hang a bin hanger and/ or replacement bioliners on the sides of bins were ongoing with the bioliner supplier and if a solution to this could be found then this would be considered.

Concerns were raised about the potential for a drop in food recycling should there be a charge for bioliners and also that in some communal areas food bins were filled to the extent where food was being put in the general waste bins.  Ms Walker advised that a further programme of education and engagement was being carried out to encourage wider uptake of the service where there was a high proportion of residents not using the service.  It was reiterated that the bioliners themselves would continue to be provided free of charge under this proposal.

In response to suggestions from members with regards to alternative methods of replenishment, Ms Walker welcomed suggestions for additional collection points, particularly in areas highlighted by members that had no alternative to the postal service due to a lack of collection points.  It was highlighted that elected members were ‘on the street’ and had good local knowledge of their wards and possibly venues which officers may not know about.  It was felt that all alternatives should be investigated before a postal charge was introduced.

The Sub Committee resolved:

(i)         to instruct officers to circulate an email to all elected members asking for suggestions for additional collection centres and alternative ideas to distribute replacement bioliners to residents;

(ii)        to note that the Clerk to the Sub Committee would collate responses received and provide responses to Ms Walker in due course;

(iii)       to instruct officers to investigate ways of reducing the number of postal recipients where possible by encouraging increased use of the collection points

(iv)       to instruct officers to continue to investigate methods of replenishment on household bins in conjunction with the bioliner supplier;

(v)        to note that residents registered on the assisted collection service would continue to be provided with bioliners at no cost, including postal charges; and

(vi)       to note that proposed postal charges to those residents not registered for the assisted collection service would not be introduced until all other distribution methods had been investigated and introduced where appropriate, and that prior to the introduction of any postal charge a further report would be submitted to the Sub Committee outlining proposed charges to residents.