Agenda item

Purpose:  To agree a way forward in relation to separation of food waste.

Resolved that approval be granted for the introduction of separate food waste collections in the district. 

This decision is not subject to call in as:

·      a delay in implementing the decision could compromise the Council's position.

therefore it will be implemented immediately.

The Executive considered a report (Agenda Item 6) which provided an update on progress made towards the introduction of free, weekly separate food waste collections from households in the district; highlighted potential opportunities, risks and issues for the project; and sought approval to enable separate food waste collections to be introduced.

Councillor Steve Ardagh-Walter advised that capital funding of £900,000 had been provided to enable a separate, additional, weekly food waste collection service to be run from next year. This would enable the Council to save money as it would no longer have to pay additional costs for disposal of food waste and allow residents to dispose of food waste more frequently than at present. To date, the proposal had attracted cross-party support and negotiations with Veolia were drawing to a close with a commitment for funding to purchase the necessary food waste vehicles for a proposed launch of the service in the first quarter of next year. However, the lead time estimates had increased significantly to c. 10 – 12 months for the supply of these vehicles, likely due to the high number of Councils who were planning to introduce similar services in the near future. It was hoped that approval by Executive to the proposal would maintain pressure on the supply chain to enable a launch of the service as originally intended.

A question was asked as to the benefits for residents and the Council by introducing this service. Councillor Ardagh-Walter explained that this would be an entirely new service in comparison to the previous food waste service. The previous scheme saw food waste caddies emptied by green waste vehicles but the new scheme would be run by a specific service independent of green waste services. This would enable communications, publicity and encouragement to be much more forthcoming and for the service to be run on a weekly basis, which was not the case previously.

Councillor Carolyne Culver welcomed the initiative as a positive way of dealing with food waste and asked Councillor Ardagh-Walter to pass on her thanks to Kofi Adu-Gyamfi and his colleagues for their help in answering local queries and for their work on this important initiative. Councillor Culver sought clarification on the planned consultation with the public, how the scheme would work for residents living in flats and what would happen with the organic soil improver that would be produced as a result of the initiative. Councillor Ardagh-Walter said the public consultation had happened in several parts, most recently as part of the Environmental Strategy Delivery Plan, which had achieved a high level of enthusiasm and public support. The key area of consultation and engagement would be immediately prior to launch by communicating through as many channels as possible in order to encourage uptake. With regard to residents living in flats, the detail for collection of food waste had not yet been finalised but the need to make an attractive offer to those residents had been recognised. With regard to the soil improver, the food waste would be composted at the Padworth facility and was already being sold to and used by local farmers and horticultural businesses, and there was ample capacity to increase this. Councillor Culver asked if it would be possible for residents to have access to that soil improver. Councillor Ardagh-Walter was not able to give an answer to this question but agreed it would be an attractive idea and said he would consult with the team.

Councillor Vickers said that in light of the Government considering making Councils responsible for free collection of garden waste – which would include composted food waste – was this still the case or had this consideration been replaced by the separate collection of food waste? In addition, had the issue of reduction in food waste been looked at which would rely on an improvement in communication with the public by educating residents in how to achieve this. Councillor Ardagh-Walter agreed that the Government had been pressing local authorities for free garden waste collection, an area which was still very unclear and which had seen a financial push-back at regional and national level. It was hoped that funding would be available for this to be implemented but until such time the costed service would remain in place. With regard to educating and communicating with residents, it was hoped there would be a greater coordination between local authorities, Central Government, industry and other bodies in terms of messaging around the benefits and need for reducing food waste. Councillor Lynne Doherty added that as Portfolio Holder for Communications, she was very aware of what the team were doing around campaigns being undertaken in terms of recycling and reinforcing the message of how to achieve a reduction in food waste, particularly in the lead up to COP26.

Councillor Adrian Abbs highlighted the risk of the delivery lead time of 10-12 months as a risk for the provision of the waste truck vehicles but also mentioned the national shortage of drivers which had an impact on the need for an additional six drivers for the proposed weekly food waste collection. This risk was reinforced by Veolia publicly stating they already had issues with availability of drivers in certain locations. For these reasons, Councillor Abbs cast doubt on the service being launched in the first quarter of next year and sought clarification on the financial impact to the Council if this indeed was the case. Councillor Ardagh-Walter said the lorry driver risk had already been noted and remained a consideration. With regard to vessel composting, Councillor Abbs sought clarification on what materials currently went in there. Councillor Ardagh-Walter said this was currently all garden waste and food waste. Councillor Abbs said that as food waste was currently allowed in green bins, and the report stated that food waste would be deposited in exactly the same place as green waste, rather than wait for food waste trucks to be purchased, why not remove the green bin charge and implement a food collection strategy along with more green waste to fill capacity and move towards carbon reduction. Councillor Ardagh-Walter said a charge needed to be made for green waste because of the financial cost to the Council of not doing so.

Councillor Macro said the report stated the IVC facility at Padworth had suitable, spare capacity but he remembered two or three years ago he had received confirmation that there were times when the amount of soil or compost being produced there was greater than the demand and was consequently being given away to farmers, and he therefore sought confirmation that this was not likely to occur again. With regard to the issue of the lack of use of green bins for food waste, Councillor Macro asked why, when the green bin charge was introduced, did the Council not encourage people to retain their green bins to be used for food waste. Lastly, Councillor Macro said he noted that vehicles and caddies would be funded by the Council but procured by Veolia and he wondered where the ownership of the vehicles and caddies would lie, for example if ownership was with Veolia but they ceased to trade, what would happen to the vehicles? Councillor Ardagh-Walter said he was unable to comment on what might or might not have occurred in the past with regard to capacity, but currently there was spare capacity at Padworth for composting material so there would be no issue when the food waste service was launched. With regard to funding and ownership, the PFI contract set up in 2005 stated that vehicles were legally owned by Veolia, a large and reputable long-standing company and therefore should Veolia cease to exist, the newly procured vehicles would consequently form a very small part of a much bigger problem for the Council. With regard to residents continuing to use green bins for food waste, Councillor Ardagh-Walter said this had very much been encouraged and many residents were currently using their green bins in this way.

Councillor Somner said he had been encouraged by the positive messages that had been received about the scheme. He had seen the scheme carried out in Reading which had largely been received positively by residents and felt the proposed scheme in West Berkshire would eliminate problems such as flies as a result of food being left out in warm weather. Councillor Somner said he was in full support of the proposed scheme and was happy to second it.

RESOLVED that approval be granted for the introduction of separate food waste collections in the district. 

Other options considered: Alternative options outlined in paragraph 6.1 of the report.