Issue - meetings

(Environment Portfolio Holder) To consider the attached report (C-048-2017/18)

(1)        That the amended Waste Management Policies 7, Exception Policy, and 10, Supply of Waste & Recycling Services Policy, be adopted.

In the absence of the Environment Portfolio Holder, the Leader of Council presented a report on the update of some of the Council’s Waste Management Policies.

The Leader reported that the Council had in place a number of waste management policies, previously introduced at the time of implementation of the original wheeled bin service and substantively updated in September 2009 and February 2017. Amendments were necessary from time to time to provide clarity to both residents and the Council’s contractor and two policies had been revised: Policy 7 – Exception Policy; and Policy 10 – Supply of Waste & Recycling Services.

The Leader stated that Policy 7 dealt with the various exceptions, for example residents who were unable to present a bin at the boundary of the property would get their bin collected from their premises. The amendments to the policy were to allow a reassessment after three years, to ensure that if the circumstances causing the grant of the exception were to change then the exception could be withdrawn. Using the example of an assisted collection, if the residents moved then the exception would not be applicable and the property would benefit from normal services.

The Leader explained that Policy 10 had been agreed last year, and the intention was to enable the provision of waste and recycling collection services at a dwelling that was paying Council Tax. The amendments proposed were to clarify the operational arrangements, for example the onus was on the home owner to contact the Council and ask for the provision of waste and recycling services.

Both Cllr G Mohindra (Finance) and Cllr R Brookes questioned the automatic removal of the larger wheeled bin for families when their children reached 3 years of age, as some children required the use of nappies until they were 5 or 6 years of age and this should be a decision for the parents not the Council. Both Councillors felt that the Policy could seem draconian. The Leader responded that the old Policy was to automatically remove the larger wheeled bin when all of the children in the household had reached the age of 3, whereas the revised Policy would assess whether there was still a need when the children reached the age of 3. The Assistant Director of Neighbourhoods (Technical Services) confirmed that if any of the children in the household still required nappies then the larger wheeled bin would be kept, regardless of their age.

Cllr M Sartin enquired about a potential charge for the collection of clinical waste, as the Council could see such waste in the residual waste stream if this happened. The Assistant Director reassured the Cabinet that the Council would collect such waste free of charge initially until some idea of the scale of the issue was known, but the Council might have to charge for the collection of clinical waste in the future. The Assistant Director also undertook to correct the typographical and grammatical errors within the Policies.

Decision:

(1)        That the amended  ...  view the full minutes text for item 125