Issue - meetings

To approve the Gloucestershire Resources and Waste Strategy. 

That the Gloucestershire Resources and Waste Strategy be APPROVED. 

35.1           The report of the Head of Service: Waste and Recycling, circulated at Pages No. 74-100, attached, at Appendix 1, a revised interim waste strategy for the county.  Members were asked to approve the Gloucestershire Resources and Waste Strategy.

35.2          The Lead Member for Clean and Green Environment advised that the draft Gloucestershire Resources and Waste Strategy has been developed by the Gloucestershire Resources and Waste Partnership (GRWP) which was a partnership of all of the local authorities in the county.  The previous strategy, which was adopted in 2007 and ran to 2020, had now expired and the proposed draft strategy was an interim strategy, running from 2022 – 2025, due to uncertainty from the current government on the future of waste services; it was hoped that by 2025 there may be some clarity on whether Tewkesbury Borough Council, and some of its partners across the county, would need to change the way they managed their services. The interim strategy set out the GRWPs objectives and timescales for those and included things like: working together to improve waste services, running engagement campaigns to increase the take up of the food waste service and increase the level of plastics recycled, and reducing carbon by reducing waste and increasing recycling.  One of the commitments made in the strategy was to “continue to develop waste services that reduce residual waste per household. This includes the provision of smaller residual waste bins on a rolling replacement basis.”  Currently Tewkesbury Borough Council used 180 litre bins; some councils in the county used larger bins and others used smaller ones.  If Tewkesbury Borough Council was to make this commitment it would mean moving to a 140 litre bin; if that was to happen, it would be done gradually - replacing all bins in one go would cost in the region of £1m – but it would be possible to use 140 litre bins for all new developments and replacement bins which would have no direct cost and evidence showed it would increase recycling.  She clarified that Members were not being asked to make a decision on this today but she felt it helped to demonstrate the direction of travel.  Subject to the Committee’s approval, Officers would start work on the local waste policy and procedures based on the GRWP strategy.

35.3           A Member asked whether he was correct in saying that a smaller residual waste bin should result in increased recycling.  The Director: Communities drew attention to the Frith Resource Management Options Appraisal Report, attached at Appendix 2 to the report, which included a summary of the different waste collection systems for the districts within the GRWP.  In order to reduce waste and carbon it was recommended that smaller bins be provided.  The Member asked if there was potential for an increase in fly-tipping if the authority moved to smaller bins and he was advised that the biggest risk would be greater contamination of recycling; the majority of people were unlikely to turn to fly-tipping.  Another  ...  view the full minutes text for item 35