Agenda item

The Director of Public Realm introduced a report on the Waste Strategy.

LBBD as the Waste Collection Authority (WCA) had a statutory responsibility to collect waste from the Borough. It worked in conjunction with East London Waste Authority (ELWA) who was the statutory Waste Disposal Authority (WDA).

The Director of Public Realm advised that in January 2022, Cabinet approved the Joint Strategy for East London's Resources and Waste for the period of 2027 to 2057 for the future of waste management. This joint strategy was developed by ELWA and the Constituent Councils, collectively the Partner Authorities (Barking and Dagenham, Havering, Newham and Redbridge Councils).

The report before the Committee provided an update on the progress and plans of how LBBD, ELWA and other Constituent Councils aim to achieve the objectives of the Joint Strategy.

In response to questions from the committee, the Director of Public Realm stated that:

- The purpose of the Communication and Engagement Plan was to establish what methodologies would be most successful in getting messages across to all residents. It was decided not to publicise the Communication and Engagement Plan as it focused on building foundations with residents:

- Residents with larger families that had requested larger bins would receive a visit from the Waste Minimisation Team who may approve the larger bin. Discussions would be had on ways the family could reduce their waste. If there was general need for additional bins within an area, these would be provided;

- Enforcement around fly-tipping cases was not straightforward. Evidence was required to identify the individuals. Public Realm was working on a collaborative approach with enforcement colleagues to address high profile hotspots for fly tipping within the borough;

- Best practice for disposing of garden waste was via Open Windrow Compost – allowing the material to break down in the presence of oxygen. However, the compost would need to reach a certain POS standard before being used and this was not financially viable for the council;

- There was a fee of £43 per year per bin for garden waste collection. There was an average of 7000 subscriptions within the borough with the garden waste collection services forecasted to generate around £300,000. This covered the full cost of the service provided;

- The delay around certain legislation and consultations had meant there was uncertainty with the funding that the Council relied on to make it the plan effective. It was hoped that capital funding would be available for the council to purchase food waste collection vehicles;

- The council was restricted by budget regarding street cleaning; however the Communication and Engagement Plan included a strategy to develop waste champions within the borough’s wards. 

- All of the Public Realm fleet was ULEZ compliant and there were four electric road sweepers operating within the borough.

- In response to a question on educating residents on their waste management, the committee was advised that In June, the Council website introduced an A-Z for what residents could do with different types of waste;

- Toolkits for schools was proposed in Communication and Engagement Plan and would be used for schools to understand what they can do themselves to reduce waste as well as support the education for their students in waste management. The Council had received a grant funding from the City of London as part of the Grow, Cook and Eat campaign.

The report was noted.