Decision details

Arising from a *report of the Waste and Transport Manager and a recommendation from the Managing the Environment Policy Development Group, the PDG had recommended that:

(i)         The annual charge for fortnightly collections of Garden Waste from a 240L bin be set at £47.00.

(ii).       The annual charge for fortnightly collections of Garden Waste from a 140L bin be set at £35.00.

(iii)      The charge for sacks be set at £13.00 for a roll of 10.

(iv)       Subject to the change of wording from ‘purchase’ to ‘subscribe’ in 3.4, and clarification regarding where sacks could be purchased, the Terms and Conditions set out in Appendix B be adopted

The Cabinet Member for the Environment welcomed Stuart Noyce (Waste and Transport Manager) to the meeting and outlined the contents of the report stating that the most significant changes to the scheme at this stage were that of the introduction of a scheme to recycle all plastics and for the separate collection of cardboard; encouraging rates of recycling were being realised.

Discussion followed with regard to:

·         The reuse of the brown bins following the introduction of the second phase of the scheme in the autumn

·         Encouraging recycling and the introduction of a Waste Enforcement Officer

·         Recent negative coverage of the scheme in the local newspaper

·         The phased roll out of the scheme across the district, with 29,000 boxes already delivered over a 4 week period

·         The small percentage of phone enquiries regarding the scheme

·         Advertising for the second phase of the scheme

·         Dual refuse collection vehicles

·         The estimated take up of the garden waste scheme

·         Possible savings to be made by Devon County Council following the introduction of the scheme.

Members recorded their appreciation to Mr Noyce and his team with regard to all the work that had gone into the introduction of the new scheme.

RESOLVED that the recommendation be approved.

(Proposed by the Chairman)

Note:  *Report previously circulated, copy attached to minutes.