Issue - meetings

Report of the Director of Climate Change, Environment and Transport (CET/23/100) on the impact of new policy and legislation on managing municipal waste, attached.

An Impact Assessment has been prepared for the attention of Members and is attached and available at Waste management legislative changes - Impact Assessment (devon.gov.uk)

RESOLVED

(a) that the requirement to make changes to operations at Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs) in response to forthcoming changes in waste management legislation and Environment Agency requirements be approved;

(b) that the Director of Climate Change, Environment and Transport and Director of Finance and Public Value in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Public Health, Communities and Equality be given delegated authority to make any operational changes required at the HWRCs to comply with the changes in legislation and Environment Agency requirements and to mitigate costs including the development of a QR system and restriction of certain wastes at nominated sites; and

(c) note the Collection & Packaging Reforms and the potential impact this may have on municipal waste management services in Devon in the future.

(Councillors Biederman, Brazil, Dewhirst and Whitton attended in accordance with Standing Order 25(2) and spoke to this item).

The Cabinet considered the Report of the Director of Climate Change, Environment and Transport (CET/23/100) on the impact of new policy and legislation on managing municipal waste, circulated prior to the meeting in accordance with regulation 7(4) of the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2012.

The Report set out the Government changes in waste legislation and Environment Agency requirements that would impact on how waste would need to be managed at Devon’s network of Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRC’s) to achieve compliance whilst mitigating costs. It also outlined the Collection and Packaging Reforms in England.

The proposals related to HWRC’s in terms of Government wanting all householders to be able to deposit a small amount of DIY waste free of charge at HWRC’s and had introduced legislation (The Controlled Waste (England and Wales((Amendment)(England) Regulations 2023) to effect this change from 31^st December 2023.

Devon would now need to allow small amounts of DIY waste to be accepted free of charge which would increase the cost of providing the HWRC service. Then existing legal definition of Household Waste did not include materials from the repair or improvement of houses i.e. Construction and Demolition (DIY) home improvement types of waste.

Government had stated this will not be subject to New Burdens and as such the County Council would need to cover the additional costs. 

The second matter related to the management of waste upholstered domestic seating. The Cabinet noted that the Persistent Organic Pollutant (POPS) Regulations 2007 placed strict controls on managing waste containing POPS such that all material must be sent for incineration to ensure that the chemicals were destroyed. This included waste upholstered domestic seating which included sofas and soft furnishings.

All residual waste from Devon’s HWRCs was sent to the Devonport Combined Heat & Power Energy from Waste Facility and POPS waste was currently mixed with other residual waste on all HWRC sites. However, the Environment Agency were currently insisting that waste containing POPs must be segregated from other waste at the HWRCs by December 2024 at the latest. As some sites were physically too small to undertake this work, it was anticipated that only a limited number of sites would be able to accept waste upholstered domestic seating in the future.

There were likely to be other changes required at HWRCs with regards to accepting tyres and potentially some types of wood in the future. Details were currently unclear, but it may require some restrictions on how these materials were managed, hence the reason for seeking a delegation to the Director in order to make any operational changes required to comply with the changes in legislation and other requirements as well as to mitigate costs including the development of a QR system and restriction of certain wastes at nominated sites.

Government were also moving ahead with delivering their Collection & Packaging Reforms  ...  view the full minutes text for item 434