Agenda item

The Sub Committee had before it a report by the Interim Director of Communities, Housing and Infrastructure which provided an update on the Waste Service in relation to the Altens East Recycling and Recovery Centre and the collection service.

The report recommended:

that the Sub Committee note the report.

Mr Reilly advised that the design specification was not quite being met during operations; throughput was going well and quality and recovery of recyclate was good, however there were still minor areas of plant which needed to be reviewed to allow the plant to fully meet the design specification and until that stage was reached the Council would retain some funds.  On the whole, the plant is running well and producing high quality outputs.

Ms Walker was thanked for the noticeable improvements in collections and less rubbish being left lying in some wards.  In response to a query regarding why some of the smaller lorries had been removed from certain routes and reinstated, Mr Reilly advised that larger vehicles were being used where possible to minimise the number of vehicles and crews required to maintain the same level of service.  The smaller vehicles had been re-routed to provide a service to those areas only accessible to smaller vehicles as the process had evolved.  It had also become clear during the rollout period that certain routes posed particular challenges once the larger vehicles had been introduced which had necessitated a change of vehicle

Councillor Cormie advised that the pilot scheme to remove surplus bins in the Midstocket/Rosemount ward had gone well with a noticeable improvement in the presentation of the area.  Ms Walker advised that following the bin tagging scheme and subsequent removal of unclaimed bins, the waste team had not received any complaints about bins being removed and there was no issue with residual waste being left lying due to reducing the bin capacity in the area.  Ms Walker further advised that the process of removing bins from the streets was working well and confirmed that those properties without suitable storage facilities or areas for bins would continue to use the pavement to store their bins but this was being logged in the database.

In response to a query regarding the timescale to introduce the remaining communal bins, Ms Walker advised that the Roads team had dedicated two teams to the project and it was possible that a third team could be assigned and the project was likely to take the time allocated to it, however it was being expedited where possible.  Ms Walker further advised that those communities which were planned to be converted to communal facilities would be excluded from the bins on streets campaign.

At this juncture, Mr Reilly advised that Mr Palmer-Jones, Chief Executive Officer of SUEZ UK had gifted an education centre to be located at the recycling facility.  Mr Reilly further advised that a preferred candidate had been appointed to fill the vacant post of Waste Collection Services Manager and the successful candidate was expected to start in February 2018.

The Sub Committee resolved:

to note the report and updates provided.