Agenda item

Report of the Director of Climate Change, Environment and Transport (CET/23/71), attached.

RESOLVED that

(a) the performance statistics for 2022/23 be noted;

(b) the committee continues to support policies and actions which encourage householders to use waste and recycling services effectively and efficiently to improve recycling performance and reduce costs; and

(c) Cabinet be asked to review the joining criteria of the Devon Shared Savings Scheme.

The Committee considered the Report of the Director of Climate Change,  Environment and Transport (CET/23/71) which provided members with an overview of waste performance statistics for Devon and Torbay for 2022/23. Individual performance tables were included in Appendix 1 to the report.

The report outlined challenges on local authorities with regards to inflationary pressures impacting on operating costs, in the wider context of budgetary pressures. It also outlined the impact of monetary pressures on consumers, with the cost-of-living crisis reducing discretionary spending, corresponding with a reduced amount of waste being produced.

Overall, Devon’s household waste had been reduced by 7.6%, and Torbay’s by 5.8%, which the report highlighted as a positive outcome. However, Devon’s recycling rate had reduced by 1.1%; Torbay’s had increased by the same amount.

The report outlined the good performance of those Waste Collection Authorities who were part of the Devon Shared Savings Scheme; members of the scheme had a recycling rate averaging at 53.4% compared to 41.1% for those who were not part of the scheme. In relation to this, during member discussion it was expressed that there were joining requirements for the Devon Shared Savings Scheme, which made it more difficult for those Waste Collection Authorities that were in the process of rolling out food waste to benefit from the Scheme immediately.  It was suggested that allowing them to join the scheme and then providing support to achieve these changes should be explored and that Cabinet should be asked to review the joining requirements for the Scheme.

Other member discussion points included:

• That the waste hierarchy prioritises ‘reuse’ and particularly ‘reduce’ before ‘recycle,’ with over-emphasis on recycling possibly detracting from the message of reducing waste per head. Officers highlighted Devon and Torbay’s good performance in this area with all individual Waste Collection Authorities across the area coming in at under 400kg per head, per year (which was the target), with Devon overall only sitting at 417kg per head, per year due to the inclusion of Household Waste and Recycling Centres (HWRCs) in this figure;

• Potential improvements to plastic recycling, in particular soft plastics;

• Ways to improve consumer involvement and knowledge such as the development of online tools (and use of existing ones) providing information to residents about what they can recycle and how, such as the correct bin to use for a particular material; and

• Recognition generally of the progress made towards achieving the Devon aligned collection service across the Authorities.

It was MOVED by Councillor Leatherand SECONDED by Councillor Croad that

(a) the performance statistics for 2022/23 be noted;

(b) the committee continues to support policies and actions which encourage householders to use waste and recycling services effectively and efficiently to improve recycling performance and reduce costs.

It was then MOVED by Councillor Williams and SECONDED by Councillor Brazil that the motion be AMENDED by the addition of the following:

(c) Cabinet be asked to review the joining criteria of the Devon Shared Savings Scheme.

The amendment was put to the vote and declared CARRIED.

The substantive motion was then voted upon. It was RESOLVED that

(a) the performance statistics for 2022/23 be noted;

(b) the committee continues to support policies and actions which encourage householders to use waste and recycling services effectively and efficiently to improve recycling performance and reduce costs; and

(c) Cabinet be asked to review the joining criteria of the Devon Shared Savings Scheme.