Agenda item

To receive a presentation on Garden Waste Subscription Implementation and Impacts.

Executive Councillor: J Kerr

By means of a presentation by the Head of Operations (a copy of which was appended in the Minute Book), the Garden Waste Finance item was presented to the Panel.

Councillor Martin reiterated that he was still not in agreement with charging for the Green waste service but understands this is the way the Council are moving forward. He asked if the implementation cost was included in the revenue costs. The Panel heard that it was not included but confirmed they implementation costs were £400K than originally predicted as they managed the collections in-house.

In response to further questions from Councillor Martin, the Panel heard Cambridgeshire County Council oversee the recycling centres and that they do not monitor footfall. They do track the amount of waste by tonnage, confirming that green waste increased by 788 tonnes in the last 12 months. It cannot be confirmed if this was due to the introduction of charging for green waste or if it was seasonal. They also heard that ultimately, since introducing the charge for green waste, they collected 2498 less tonnes of waste overall.

The majority of the missed bins was from residual waste, not green waste and that was mainly due to losing 6 fulltime and experienced members of staff to long-term sickness which hits the service hard as much of that role relies on experience which takes time to build.

It was reiterated that the average target for missed bins set by the Council was  75 per 100K collections for Huntingdonshire and 72 by other Local Authorities. In 2023/2024, the final result was 39.8 missed bins per 100K. The service wanted to be ambitious in retaining this target for the 2024/2025 year. It was confirmed that unit costs were well below average when compared to the 16 other Local Authorities and that, whilst it is showing as red, the figures we have are enviable.

Councillor Pickering asked if the organic matter had been recovered from the residual waste. The Panel heard that the Officers do not have access to that information as Huntingdonshire are the collection authority, not the disposal. This is under the remit of Cambridgeshire County Council. It was confirmed that Cambridgeshire County Council are working hard to find the best way to deal with the residual waste.

Councillor Jennings admitted that he had been wrong in his previous stance regarding the estimated take up levels where he felt they were too high an estimation. He congratulated the Officers on the 65% take up achieved in the first year and asked if they think the rest will sign up later in the year. The Panel heard that this was difficult to forecast but some residents have signed up for the service ahead of the renewal date and sometimes doing this multiple times which shows satisfaction with the service. There are currently just under 51K subscriptions with a steady stream of 300-400 per week still coming in.

Councillor Taylor acknowledged that it was a hard decision in her previous role as portfolio holder to agree to this but believes it was the right decision, especially after hearing the figures that have come from it.

Councillor Gardener confirmed he still does not agree with this service, drawing on his other role as a County Councillor and believes this is shifting costs from one Authority onto another and that this won’t work once the Local Government Reorganisation happens. The Panel heard that one the reorganisation happens, this should get picked up and could result with one authority who will be doing the collection and disposal. It was also heard that 8K less tonnes of residual waste resulted in a saving of nearly £1 million for Cambridgeshire County Council this year.

Following the discussion, it was

RESOLVED

that the comments of the Overview and Scrutiny Panel be passed to Cabinet for their consideration when making a decision upon the recommendations within the report.