Interviews with:

·  Georgia Hawkes, Head of Business Improvement;

·  Jennifer Gosling, Waste Collection Manager; and

·  David Edwards, Director of Change, Planning and the Environment.

The Committee welcomed Georgia Hawkes, Head of Business Improvement, Jennifer Gosling, Waste Collection Manager, David Edwards, Director of Change, Planning and the Environment and Jonathan Scott, Street Scene Manager to the meeting.

Ms Hawkes gave the Committee a background to the Waste and Recycling Best Value Review describing it as a key piece of work for the Council over the past 18 months. Members were reminded that this followed a review into Waste and Recycling in which Overview and Scrutiny had played a key part. The Officer explained that the review had been about defining a strategy and giving that clarity through an implementation plan and that was now something that was being delivered on. The Officer highlighted the 4 overdue actions that had occurred because of the food waste collection service being implemented. Ms Hawkes explained the use of Covalent performance management system to the Committee which allowed the plan to be updated and monitored by Officers with actions assigned to the relevant person.  This was something that Officers did as they went along and she offered her congratulations to Ms Gosling and her team.

The Committee were told that the new food waste collection contract had already shown a 70-80% participation rate.  This measurement was currently being made by counting the number of food waste caddies presented on the roadside on the day of collection; Members were told that there would be more extensive monitoring to come.  With regard to flats, residents had the option to opt in to the scheme if there was a place to put out a caddy.  Larger caddies would be looked at in the future, once the service and routes had been established. Commercial Waste was also something that would be considered at a later stage under the phase model which included school waste. Members were told that the education officer had attended all Maidstone’s primary schools to help inform the next generation. The success of the service so far was also measured by the amount of food waste collected which at 100 tonnes, was per household higher that the UK average shown in trials. It was explained that the waste was taken to Blaise Farm for composting.  As a result of the food waste collection Maidstone’s recycling rate had risen from 30% in 2009/2010 to over 40%. Taking into account a reduction in the use of grey bins there was a 12% reduction in the overall waste arisings, which put Maidstone on course to meet the 45% recycling target set with a further 5% to be achieved through glass recycling.  The expectation was that people would begin to buy less food when they saw how much they were wasting which would show an initial decrease in usage.  Less that 90 people had opted out of the new scheme and concerns over the caddies being a target for vermin had been appeased when the robust, lockable caddy was delivered.

Ms Gosling explained other recycling initiatives that were being launched including funding for 5 Tetra pack recycling banks to be introduced at 5 sites across the borough.  She explained that there was a focus on supermarkets for the sites for these as they were where people bought the products.  It was highlighted that there were some issues with supermarkets having recycling facilities in situ as it could impact on their parking availability for customers. Members questioned this point, taking into account the environmental credentials these companies had to consider and suggested the use of planning policy to enforce this.  The Officer explained that that was not the preferred course of action as once recycling facilities were publicised by a competitor other supermarkets would follow suit but was happy for parish and ward members to encourage recycling at local supermarkets.

The Committee questioned the use of planning in waste and recycling and were informed that developers already considered this and would consult with them on this.  Members queried the facilities at village halls for recycling food waste but were informed that this was not something they were interested in at the moment, recycling was preferential to them. Members were also told that there would no longer be separate dog waste bins as they cost an additional £40,000 a year to service under a separate contract.  This was in line with the latest waste campaign ‘any bin will do.’  A mapping exercise had been carried out to show the location of all bins and it was found there was often more than one bin in the same location. This exercise had also demonstrated that there was no correlation between the level of dog fouling and the number of bins.

Health and Safety issues were also addressed. Members were told that Health and Safety was a key component in the work carried out and that they were proactive in the management of this by attending meetings with Sita to provide support in this area.

The Officers were thanked for attending the meeting and complimented by the Committee on the success of the implementation plan.

It was resolved that:

a)  The recycling of food waste should be offered to those residing in flats;

b)  Tetra pack recycling should be publicised;

c)  There should be a continued dialogue with supermarkets through public engagement to encourage recycling; and

d)  The Waste and Recycling teams should return in 6 months time to provide the Committee with a progress report.