Agenda item

Wirral Council Waste Management Strategy 2015-2020

Minutes:

“One of the remarkable things about living in Wirral is the fantastic environment we all share. Our coastline and world class parks are second to none. As the Cabinet Member responsible for protecting the environment, I know how hard our teams work to collect your waste and maintain the environment.

However there is a need to do more in order to achieve waste targets at a time when resources are reducing. We need to look for ways to improve the level of recycled waste and we need the help of residents to do this.

We are currently recycling 36% of our waste, but legislation requires Wirral and all other councils to recycle at least 50% of waste by 2020. We have identified a range of options for consideration and incentives to help us improve and transform the way we manage waste and with this strategy we are setting out how we intend to achieve it. We will be working closely with residents and listening to their views before making decisions about future waste collection”.

Councillor Bernie Mooney

Reasons for Decisions:

In order to meet statutory and corporate targets for waste management, the Council must establish new systems for the collection of municipal waste as quickly as possible.

The Council’s current recycling performance is behind the level required to meet the 2020 targets and although the existing waste management system can be improved, such improvements will not meet the required targets alone.

The Waste Management Strategy 2015 – 2020 sets out the medium term requirements for waste management legislation and the scale of the task required to achieve 50% recycling by 2020. The Strategy also provides a framework for the future direction of the Council’s waste management, which includes an action plan and a series of options for future waste stream collections.

The options appraisal exercise will consider the various waste stream collection options to determine the optimal system that can achieve targets as well as contribute to the Council’s medium term financial plan.

Transforming the Council’s waste management performance to reach the 50% recycling target will realise savings against the Council’s waste disposal costs (the Council’s waste levy apportionment for 2015/16 was £15,530,841).

Decisions: That

(1) the Wirral Council Waste Management Strategy 2015-2020 appended to the report be approved;

(2) commencement of an options appraisal exercise to consider future waste management arrangements; including the use of external support for project validation as outlined in Section 6.0 of the report be approved; and

(3) Officers be instructed to make recommendations for future waste management arrangements to a future Cabinet upon the conclusion of the options appraisal exercise.

Purpose:

The Cabinet Member for Environmental Protection reported that the Waste Management Strategy 2015-2020 provided direction for the transformation of the Council’s management of municipal waste over the next five years in order to meet statutory targets for recycling and reductions to landfill disposal.

Effective waste management was a crucial component of the Council’s drive to create an attractive local environment across Wirral. As such the Waste Management Strategy underpinned the delivery of key strategic themes set out within the Wirral Plan and directly supported Pledge 20 ‘Attractive Local Environment for Wirral Residents’.

The transformation of the Council’s waste management and achievement of legislative targets would realise reductions to the significant waste disposal costs the Council incurred, currently over £15m per year.

An options appraisal exercise would be required to determine optimal arrangements for the Council’s future waste management. Such an exercise would recognise the contrasting demographic profiles across the townships and communities of the borough and that a ‘one size fits all’ approach would not work.

The Council’s Waste Management Strategy complemented the Merseyside Recycling and Waste Authority’s (MWRA) ‘Joint Recycling and Waste Management Strategy 2011-2041’ (JRWMS) and formed part of a suite of district authority strategies that provided the local delivery mechanism for achieving the aims and objectives of the JRWMS.

The matter affected all Wards within the Borough and was a Key Decision.

Supporting documents: