To approve the principles of a specification of a new Waste Collection Contract to commence in 2009.

THAT:

                     (a)          A weekly refuse collection service is provided at the kerbside for all households in the county and that plastic sacks are used for this purpose.

(b)                   The kerbside recycling service is extended to as near 100% of the county’s homes as is practicable from the current level of c.75%.

(c)                    The recycling service should collect mixed materials from the kerbside including glass, paper, cardboard, plastic and metal cans and that the collections should be made fortnightly. The Council will provide a rigid container (a wheeled bin) for the purposes of collecting and presenting the recyclables. Householders may choose an appropriate sized bin from a number that will be offered.

(d)                   Both services (waste and recycling) will offer to anyone who has difficulty presenting waste and recycling at the kerbside (whether through old age, disability or other reasonable cause) a collection from any agreed part of their property.

(e)                   Officers, through the procurement process, explore all opportunities to add value to the new waste and recycling collection contract especially provision of additional services by contractor’s staff whilst undertaking their main duties. For example, the collection and delivery of library books from vulnerable people, reporting road defects, carrying out automated road condition surveys, the delivery and collection of community equipment such as walking frames and other aids, and any other possibilities that become apparent.

1                    The recommendations seek to ensure that Herefordshire Council will continue to provide a refuse collection service that meets its statutory duties and provides the best possible levels of service whilst minimising the risks of excessive increase in the contract cost but significantly improves recycling rates.

1                    There are a number of ways a new contract can be specified to deliver the waste collection contract.  These options vary from the introduction of Alternate Weekly Collection to carrying on the service as it is currently provided.

2                    Maintaining the status quo (i.e. continuing with a weekly sack based kerbside recycling system and weekly sack based residual collection for 75% of the County will not involve the authority in higher levels of expenditure.  However, the Council’s recycling performance is unlikely to improve significantly to reach the required 40%.  Whilst the current scheme is relatively popular the authority is regularly criticised for not providing a kerbside recycling service to 25% of the County.

3                    Unless we adopted the bulk delivery of sacks, complaints about undelivered/lost sacks will continue and these complaints form by far and away the largest proportion of service complaints.  In addition, although the new commingled Materials Recycling Facility can handle glass, it is not possible to collect glass in polythene sacks for obvious reasons.  Glass is a significant proportion of the waste stream and would produce relatively high tonnages and not collecting such recyclables would severely inhibit the Council’s potential to increase recycling.

4                    The costs of extending the existing scheme across the County are likely to be relatively expensive and are only likely to produce minimal improvement in recycling performance and leaves the authority with no way of minimising the levels of residual waste.

Consultation took place during April and May 2008 through Press Adverts and information regarding this is on the website.