Head of Environmental Enhancement and Service Manager (Refuse & Recycling)to report.

At its meeting on 7^th March 2024, the Committee resolved to invite the Head of Service for Environmental Enhancement to attend a future meeting of the Policy Development Committee to answer questions in relation to the Waste and Recycling Service.

 

The Chair welcomed the Head of Environmental Enhancement and the Service Manager (Refuse and Recycling) to the meeting.

 

The Head of Environmental Enhancement explained that the report which presented the Capital Scheme was considered by Full Council on 27^th March 2024 and had generated a really good discussion amongst the members.

 

He introduced the Service Manager (Refuse and Recycling) to the Committee and explained that he was there to provide an update to the members in relation to the latest position regarding the Brynsworthy Recycling Works project.

 

The Service Manager (Refuse and Recycling) highlighted the following points to the Committee:

 

·       The two main parts of the project, which were:

 

Ø  Part 1 – Capital Building Works.

Ø  Part 2 – New Baler and Associated Conveyors.

Ø  Dormouse habitat survey had been undertaken on the site and new dormouse boxes would be placed around the site to replace what was being removed.

 

·       Part 1 – Building Works.

 

The building works consisted of the following:

 

Ø  Upgrade of the drainage system (Environment Agency EA requirement).

Ø  A building to cover the glass bay (EA requirement).

Ø  Fire Suppression System in the process hall.

Ø  Bunding around the process hall to retain fire water.

Ø  New modular building for office staff.

Ø  New weighbridge located by the side road.

 

·       Part 2 – New Baler and Associated Conveyors.

 

This part of the works consisted of the following:

 

·       A New 12 tonne per hour baler.

·       Sunken conveyors to reduce manual intervention.

·       Advanced optical sorting equipment to separate materials.

·       Ability to separate plastic into valuable streams.

 

·       Plans of new building works – Modular Building, which detailed the layout of the new office accommodation for Waste and Recycling office based employees.

·       The operations plan, which detailed the new layout of the processing hall.

·       Detailed plans for the new baler together with cross section illustrations.

 

He outlined the challenges that could potentially arise during the building phase of the project, which were as follows:

 

·       Insufficient parking on site at Brynsworthy for office based employees whilst the builders utilised the rear car park.

·       Temporary movement of office staff upstairs when the portacabin was demolished.

·       Continued operations with minimal effect on customers.

·       Continued operations on site to process material and maintain income generation.

 

The Chair thanked the Service Manager (Refuse and Recycling) for his presentation.

 

The Head of Environmental Enhancement advised the following:

 

·       The importance of the installation of the Fire Suppression System in the process hall, which in the event of a fire would prevent water runoff from the site and ensure that the Council did not lose its permit to process recyclable materials.

·       The new baler would ensure that the process would be undertaken quickly and efficiently.

·       The Council was as well positioned as it could be in terms of the government’s policy on simpler recycling.

·       The government were also launching a new policy that Councils with refuse collection responsibilities must ensure that they operated a two weekly black bin collection.

·       The Council was not in the top quartile for recycling figures but it was still in a good position for a small district Council.

·       The deposit return scheme for plastic bottles would be introduced in 2025, which was a concern for the Council as plastic bottles were one of their most valuable income streams and there could potentially be a decline in income for that funding stream. The Council was exploring ways around that with regards to potential contracts that it could apply for to empty the machines.

·       With regards to Members being given permission to access the collection database to log missed collections on behalf of their constituents, he confirmed that it would not be possible to give Members access to the system.

·       The vehicles now had new Bartec units together with handheld devices and the service had made a few small tweaks to the rounds, as new housing developments are built.

·       The website also provided alerts to residents if there were issues within their and updates were provided to keep residents informed.

·       Members were reminded to report any missed collections through the Customer Contact Centre.

·       Any type of plastic bag could now be utilised within the food caddies and the team would work with the Communications team to promote this to the wider public.

·       The Committee members were welcome to visit the newly improved recycling facility once it was up and running.

 

The Service Manager (Waste and Recycling) advised the following:

 

·       The builders were due to submit plans to the Council within the next few weeks.

·       National Grid advised the Council in November 2023 that it did not require any additional works to the processing hall to improve the power supply. However, in March 2024 they advised the Council that it would require a larger substation to facilitate the works. Over the course of several meetings they eventually concluded that the larger sub-station was not in fact required.

·       Additional storage would be utilised on site within the food storage shed and the builders had been advised that the processing hall must be kept clear to enable normal operations to continue throughout the build.

·       There were currently no plans to increase the types of plastic that could be recycled and at the current time the Council did not collect film, tetra packs or black plastic. That said, the machines that were being installed within the processing hall would be able to be adapted with additional kit should the Council bring on board any additional plastic recycling options in the future as a result of a change to government policy.

·       There was currently no space to process food waste at Brynsworthy and the Council were under contract to DCC to process this element of the recycling process.

 

The Director of Resources and Deputy Chief Executive advised the following:

 

·       The new baler would operate at six times the speed of the current baler and produce 12 tonnes of recycling per hour in comparison to the current output of two tonnes per hour.

·       The versatility and efficiency of the new baler could enable potential additional income streams in the future.

·       The income that the Council received from the sale of recyclable materials was a very volatile market but currently stood at around £600k per year.

·       The Council was part of a shared savings scheme through Devon County Council, which returned around £340,000 per year and in addition currently received Recycling credits of £550,000. In total, from all of these income sources, the Council received around £1.5million of income per year.

 

These income figures could potentially increase in the future through generating an increased volume of material being processed within the service.

 

RESOLVED:

 

a)    That monthly updates to be provided to the Committee regarding the number of complaints that were coming in related to missed collections etc;

 

b)    That the Waste and Recycling team work with the Communications team to promote further communications to advise the wider public that any type of plastic bag could now be utilised within the food caddies; and

 

c)    That the Committee members be invited to visit the newly improved recycling facility once it was up and running.

 

The Chair thanked the Head of Environmental Enhancement and the Service Manager (Waste and Recycling) for their attendance at the meeting.