Agenda item

Update by Alvin Henry, Waste and Recycling Manager

Alvin Henry, Waste and Recycling Manager, provided the following information on waste management issues in the area:

(a)  the Waste Management Team collect over 520,000 bins per month, plus 80,000 garden waste bins, which equates to 220-250 tonnes of waste and 90 tonnes of recycling per day;

(b)  the area doesn’t utilise the bulky waste service like other areas in the City;

(c)  the service has changed how it deals with missed bins and there is now technology on the collection vehicles which records which bins have been missed and why, ie, the bin not being put out for collection, not being able to access the road due to  parked cars, etc;

(d)  across the whole City last month there were over 130 contaminated bins, over 500 missed bins and over 630 bins not presented for collection;

(e)  bins have to be visible with no barriers to be presented;

(f)  the data from all collection routes is scrutinised regularly.

The Committee and others in attendance made the following comments:

(g)  the refuse collectors do not always empty the bin unless it is exactly where it should be;

(h)  the current system of putting a sticker on contaminated bins and emptying them a few days later doesn’t work as people don’t learn from it and the bins block the pavements and are an eyesore until they are emptied;

(i)  students leave the bin out at the end of term so that it can be emptied but, once it is emptied, it is then left on the pavement as the house is unoccupied so there is no-one to take it in. It would be helpful if the refuse collectors could put the bins just inside the property boundary when they know it’s an empty student house;

(j)  it would be appropriate to go back to a weekly collection in some areas to reduce the amount of issues there are;

(k)  it appears that the refuse collectors have stopped collecting side waste in the Arboretum;

(l)  some citizens aren’t clear when their bin collection is. It is especially confusing when there are streets that are linked that have different collection days;

(m)  citizens should not be given the option not to recycle and should take responsibility to ensure that they put the correct things in their bins;

(n)  it is important to ensure that the service meets the needs of the City;

(o)  consideration should be given to piloting the use of the orange recycling bags on Lenton Boulevard and removing the recycling bins to see if it reduces contamination.

Alvin provided the following additional information in response to some of the comments made:

(p)  if a round of bin collections is missed the call centre is always notified and also told when the bins will be collected so they can inform citizens if they call to report that their bin hasn’t been emptied;

(q)  there is a 2 day target for emptying missed bins;

(r)  the need to improve communication to citizens is recognised;

(s)  the authority has to offer recycling. There are orange recycling bags that can be used instead of bins but there needs to be a cost benefit analysis of their use;

(t)  there will be Waste Advisors in post soon who will be able to look at where bins cause issues and what the issues are;

(u)  if someone contaminates their bin they get a letter, the second time a Waste Advisor will visit and the third time enforcement action is considered;

(v)  the vehicles are designed to carry a certain weight and once that weight is reached the team has to go to the tip which can cause delays to collections or limit the amount of side waste that can be collected;

(w)  there is a free text service that students can sign up to that reminds them which bin needs to be put out and when, and also reminds them to remove the bin from the pavement once it has been emptied.