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the current position;

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the Council’s big challenges;

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the Council’s vision;

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proposals;

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increase income generation;

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increase recycling rates;

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customer relations and enforcement team.

 (a)

Jacky Clift (Plymouth Octopus Project) and Penny Tarrant (Plymouth Food Waste Partnership) advised that  -

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the separate collection of food waste had previously been investigated but at that time had not been implemented;

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there were concerns that the proposed waste plan was not robust enough to bring about the improvements, reduction in waste and cost savings that were required;

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these proposals provided an opportunity to look at tackling food waste in Plymouth and the options available to address this issue;

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Plymouth City Council and Exeter City Council were the only local authorities in Devon that were not currently collecting food waste separately;

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there were significant challenges in achieving sustainable waste management in Plymouth, such as changing people’s attitudes and behaviours towards food, cost implications, etc;

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significant reductions in general waste or improvements in recycling would not be achieved without the introduction of a high profile, interactive, creative, innovative and sustainable awareness programme;

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working with the Council would be key in the rolling out of a food waste education programme.

(b)

it was not the intention under these proposals to close the Weston Mill recycling centre facility; following an assessment of the site by the Environment Agency, works would need to be undertaken to address drainage issues;

(c)

with the proposed reduction in household waste going to the incinerator, it was not envisaged that there would be any implications relating to the council’s contractual commitments;

(d)

in locations where it was feasible to place containerised bins these would replace the use of bin bags;  areas where this was not appropriate would continue to receive a weekly collection service;

(e)

it was recognised that in order to address the issue of fly-tipping a range of measures would need to be implemented such as improving community engagement, increasing the levy of charges, the roll out of education programmes, etc;

(f)

under the current proposals, there would be no change to the way in which garden waste was collected; however, options for the future would need to be considered;

(g)

work was being undertaken to assess whether in certain locations it would be feasible to replace standard wheelie bins with steel bins which would be collected on a more frequent basis;

(h)

different methods of communications would be used as part of a community education programme;

(i)

in order to alleviate the problem, at times, of queuing traffic at the Weston Mill recycling centre, the operating methods and the layout of the site would be reviewed;

(j)

the ‘Pickles’ grant had been awarded to the Council in 2011for the maintenance of a weekly waste collection service (for a period of five years); however the grant for this service was now due to end;

(k)

if the recycling targets for the City were not achieved, then the Council would incur financial penalties;

(l)

every effort would be made to minimise the impact of these proposals on members of staff.