Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received and noted from Councillors Tracey Rawlins, Shaukat Ali, Wendy Cocks and David Lancaster.

To seek a nomination for the Chair of the Greater Manchester (GM) Waste and Recycling Committee for the 2021/2022 municipal year and to recommend any nomination of Chair for consideration by the GM Combined Authority at its meeting on 30 July 2021.

RESOLVED/-

That Councillor Allison Gwynne be appointed Chair for the 2020/21 Municipal Year.

To note that at its meeting on 25 June 2021 the GM Combined Authority appointed the following 15 Members to the GM Waste & Recycling Committee for the 2021/22 municipal year, comprising (11 Labour, 3 Conservative & 1 Liberal Democrat members).

¹Membership excludes Wigan Council as it operates as a unitary authority and administers its own disposal arrangements.

RESOLVED/-

That the Membership of the GMCA Waste & Recycling Committee, as agreed by the GMCA on 25 June 2021 for 2021/2022, be noted, as follows:

¹Membership excludes Wigan Council as it operates as a unitary authority and administers its own disposal arrangements.

To seek the nomination of a GM Waste & Recycling Committee Member to be appointed on to the Greater Manchester Green City Region Partnership (was Low Carbon Hub Board) for 2021/22.

RESOLVED/-

That Alan Quinn be appointed to the Green City Region Board for the 2021/22 Municipal Year.

RESOLVED/-

That Members noted their obligations under the GMCA Members’ Code of Conduct and to complete an annual declaration of interest form and that the completed form would be published on the GMCA website be also noted.

To note the Terms of Reference for the GM Waste and Recycling Committee.

RESOLVED/-

That the Terms of Reference for the GMCA Waste and Recycling Committee be noted.

To note the following programme of meetings for the Committee for 2021/22:

·         13 October 2021, 10.00am, Venue TBC

·         26 January 2022, 10.00am, Venue TBC

·         23 March 2022, 10.00am, Venue TBC

RESOLVED/-

That the Programme of Meetings for 2021/22, be noted as follows:

·       13 October 2021, 10.00am, Venue TBC

·       26 January 2022, 10.00am, Venue TBC

·       23 March 2022, 10.00am, Venue TBC

RESOLVED/-

There were no announcements or items of urgent business reported.

To receive declarations of interest in any item for discussion at the meeting. A blank form for declaring interests has been circulated with the agenda; please ensure that this is returned to the Governance & Scrutiny Officer at the start of the meeting.

RESOLVED/-

There were no declarations of interest reported by any Member in respect of any item on the agenda.

To consider the approval of the minute of the meetings held on 21 April 2021.

RESOLVED/-

That the minutes of the previous meeting, held on 21 April 2021 be approved as a correct record.

Report of David Taylor, Executive Director, GMCA Waste and Resources Team.

Members considered the Waste & Recycling Committee Work Programme, which provided a forward look of items that would focus the work of the Committee during 2021/2022. 

Work surrounding the Waste Strategy would be developed into the Work Programme to fit in with the national position.

RESOLVED/-

That the Work Programme be noted.

Report of Justin Lomax, Head of Contract Services, GMCA Waste and

Resources Team.

Justin Lomax, Head of Contract Services, Waste and Resources Team introduced a report which provided an overview of performance of the Waste and Resources Management Services (WRMS) and the Household Waste Recycling Centre Management Services (HWRCMS) Contracts, with updates on key issues currently affecting the waste management services during this period.

It was reported that the data used was undergoing final verification for the annual outturn for the financial year April 2020 to March 2021, which is up to the end of Quarter 4 of year 2, for the two Contracts held by Suez.

Highlights from the report included –

·       Current recycling rates were at 46.42% for 2021/21, an increase on the 2019/20 rate of 41.15%

·       A total rate of 98.5% of material had been diverted away from landfill disposal, a 5% increase on last year, equating to almost 55kt less with only 1.7kt being sent via this route.

·       Rejection levels at the Materials Recovery Facility from kerbside recycling remain at around 18% Although slightly lower than last year’s level the tonnage of collected loads rejected at the reception points remains very high, reaching over 7.4kt, with the majority of this coming from the mixed paper and card collection stream.

·       Since the last Committee report, there has been 1 further RIDDOR incident, for the period up to 31 March 21, bringing the total for the year to 5. The last incident, in January 2021, was a dangerous occurrence reported to the Health and Safety Executive due to a high-pressure steam leak at the Bolton Thermal Recovery Facility. This was detected following the restart of the turbine bypass station, during a routine inspection of the turbine hall. Appropriate action was taken, including the steam supply being isolated from the affected section of the system, the source of the leak being identified, and a repair being carried out, along with an upgrade to the control system, and a reviewed inspection and replacement plan.

·       The overall data shows that throughout the period of the pandemic, total annual Household Waste Recycling Centre visitor numbers have stayed below levels seen in the previous 2 years. With 5.4m visits during 2020/21 being 500k less visits than in the previous year. Final annual data is currently being verified but indicates that there was approaching 20% less material going through these sites than for last year (equating to over 50kt).

·       Van Permit Scheme: SUEZ is continuing to develop the system to administer and manage the usage of HWRC network by householders owning vans. The testing phase will ensure the process for the applicant is as straightforward as possible and that administration is streamlined and compliant with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) legislation. It is anticipated that there will be a soft launch on sites during August 2021 with the hard launch commencing in September 2021.

·       Biowaste treatment capacity has been secured until 2026. Bids have been received through the procurement process for a number of smaller treatment packages, these have been evaluated and final stage of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12.

Report of Michelle Whitfield, Head of Communications and Behavioural Change, GMCA Waste and Resources Team.

Michelle Whitfield, Head of Communications and Behavioural Change, GMCA Waste and Resources Team updated the Committee on the Recycle for Greater Manchester Communications & Behavioural Change delivery plan and the joint SUEZ communications and engagement plan.

·       The National Food Waste Action Week 2022 has been confirmed for 7^th-13^th March 2022.

·       Promotion is continuing at the household waste recycling centres (HWRCs) to generate stock for the 3 ReNew shops. Donation containers have been placed at 15 out of the 20 HWRCs, this type of waste would otherwise have gone into the general waste container destined for energy from waste or landfill.

·       The Greater Manchester Social Media Strategy is being reviewed to determine what type of content leads to better engagement, ensuring it meets the needs of our audience and contains relevant content.

·       The education team are continuing to deliver virtual educational sessions and will continue when restrictions lifted. The refit of the Longley Lane Education Centre is on track to be completed in September. Restrictions allowing, face to face education visits at Longley Lane Visitor Centre and the Solar Farm at Bolton will commence in September.

·       The National Nappy Campaign launched in March 2021. The Recycle for GM Team (R4GM) are developing the Keep Britain Tidy Campaign further by working with hospital communication leads to share in maternity wards and with the Maternity Clinical Lead at the Health and Social Care Partnership to hopefully secure partnership working.  R4GM are also exploring options to work with Bounty, the online company that supports families in the transition to parenthood, from pregnancy to pre-school, and the Manchester Evening News are looking at options to share the campaign via their Families Online channel.

·       For World Environment Day on 5 June 2021, R4GM partnered with Alupro (Aluminium Packaging Recycling Organisation) focussing on the Every Can Counts Campaign, and Every Can Counts ambassadors worked with the team on various public engagement campaigns.

·       Research is underway to develop a food waste campaign across the conurbation.

·       A report filmed by ITV Granada Reports at the Longley Lane site focussing on battery fires is due to air during w/c 21 June 2021, this will be supported by social media messaging by the R4GM team.

It was confirmed that battery recycling is the responsibility of the industry/supplier, there are emerging discussions with partners on how this can be addressed, whether through social media or a separate advertising campaign.

RESOLVED/-

1.    To note the progress of the Communications and Behavioural Change Plan.

2.    To note the progress on the joint SUEZ and R4GM Communications and Engagement Plan.

Report of Paul Morgan, Head of Commercial Services, GMCA Waste and Resources Team.

Paul Morgan, Head of Commercial Services, Waste and Resources Team updated the Committee on the Consultation on Consistency in Household and Business Recycling in England and its possible implications for Greater Manchester.

Implications of the proposed strategy for Greater Manchester include:

·       Even though the weekly collection of food and garden waste collections will be funded by the New Burdens regime, this would still impact depots and facilities.

·       Having six/7 recycling containers per household would not be suitable to the more densely populated areas and would cause significant health and safety concerns, such as congestion and increased omission, not all provision services for flats would accommodate the receptacle’s and will need to be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

·       Studies have shown that there would be little environmental benefit over the current system used in GM.

The consultation response has been submitted to Government, responses detailing a course of action from all responses received are expected in the Autumn.

Discussions with districts will progress over the next few weeks and will include the waste strategy and wider implications, such as, the carbon agenda - net zero by 2028.

Members raised concerns on the suggestion that three bins be collected on one day, this causing problems for people with sight and/or mobility issues, users of mobility chairs, prams etc.

Members reiterated their concerns regarding the number of additional bins being required and other factors and suggested that GM residents be surveyed as evidence to the consultation response.

It was reported that Government believed that separate collections would indicate a better standard of return.In preparation, officers were undertaking relevant modelling to consider the best options.

In relation to mandated fortnightly residual waste collections, Members were concerned that this would reduce recycling rates and have significant cost implications.  Furthermore, three weekly collections were well established in many areas of Greater Manchester so this would potentially cause unnecessary confusion for residents.  However, it was noted that collections, bin sizes and bin colours were not standard across GM and therefore it would be difficult in the current contractual arrangements to meet Government demands to standardise at this point.

Greater Manchester has well established collection patterns and should also not be quick to introduce changes that would not be for the good of its residents.

RESOLVED/-

1.    To note the report.

Report of Steve Wilson, GMCA Treasurer.

Steve Wilson, GMCA Treasurer introduced the report setting out the revenue

and capital outturn for 2020/21 for the Waste and Resources Service.

RESOLVED/-

1.    To note the report.

That, under section 100 (A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the press and public should be excluded from the meeting for the following items on business on the grounds that this involved the likely disclosure of exempt information, as set out in the relevant paragraphs of Part 1, Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 and that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information.

RESOLVED/-

That, under section 100 (A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, member of the press and public should be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that this involves the likely disclosure of exempt information, as set out in paragraphs 3 & 5, Part 1, Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 and that the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

Report of Justin Lomax, Head of Contract Services and Paul Morgan, Head of

Commercial Services GMCA Waste and Resources Team.

RESOLVED/-

That the contracts update, and key risks set out in the report be noted.