Waverley Borough Council Committee System - Committee Document
Meeting of the Executive held on 12/07/2005
Garden Waste Issues - Additional Information and Guidance
ANNEXE
Garden Waste Issues – Additional information and Guidance
1. Is there a lot of it?
Currently, nearly 22% of our waste stream is green waste. It is important therefore that we have adequate methods in place for its disposal and we maintain a strict line about not accepting green waste as residual waste. The preferred disposal mechanism is home composting and much has been done to promote this and since the introduction of the waste minimisation policy the sale of home composters has escalated. Since 1993 a total of 9,073 composters have been supplied by way of Waverley’s promotional activity – 2,748 in 2004-05. Next preferable is disposal through the Civic Amenity Sites where the waste is composted. This proposal is about a kerbside collection system for garden waste for those who are not attracted to the other options.
2. What about the law?
The law allows waste collection authorities to make a reasonable charge for the removal of a series of categories of waste from domestic properties, including garden waste. The charges for such a green waste service as we are proposing range from low/no cost to some £60. By any definition, the proposal is regarded as reasonable.
3. Current Council Policy/Where are we now?
In September 2004, the Council introduced a Borough-wide waste minimisation policy restricting the amount of residual waste removed from each household to one wheeled bin or equivalent. The policy also included no excess waste unless separately contained garden waste in a prepaid plastic sack. Further, the Council agreed a restriction that from July 2005 no garden waste was to be placed in the wheeled bin. Whereas this policy has worked well in minimising the amount of waste presented for collection, it is considered inappropriate that the long term disposal of garden waste in plastic sacks is through landfill. This proposed arrangement allows for garden waste to be transported to the Onyx site at Little Bushy Warren or elsewhere to be turned into a soil conditioner.
4. What is needed to turn green waste into compost?
a) A separate collection – this proposal allows for the subscribing householders to be supplied with a 50 litre woven reusable polypropylene sack which will be separately collected from those householders notified to the contractor as registered with the scheme.
b) Separate containers – the range of containers considered included wheeled bins (but this may make the compost become anaerobic), biodegradable sacks (but these are not acceptable to Little Bushy Warren), reusable containers (this represents the most acceptable solution). It is also important that these containers can be manually lifted, carried and emptied safely by operatives (therefore restricting the capacity to c. 50 litres). Also considered was the need for reusability to equate with durability and these sacks have an estimated life of some 4 years and also avoid the environmental challenge of providing ‘one-off’ containers (as at present) rather than reusable containers.
c) A processing plant – our new relationship with Onyx UK Ltd allows us access to the processing plant near Alton described above.
d) Finance – the scheme proposed is self-financing and within the cost envelope includes the ability to provide both the reusable sacks and a range of discounts for those householders who are in receipt of statutory means tested benefits.
e) Logistics – Onyx UK Ltd have a range of experience with other District Councils in providing such a service and are competent practitioners to ensure that the method proposed in greater detail in the text of the report, is operationally deliverable.
5. Should the service be subsidised?
Under the circumstances that cellulose (the basic constituent of most garden waste) going to landfill produces anaerobically the greatest pollutant leading to ozone depletion and global warming/climate change, it is proposed that those who produce the garden waste should fund its processing into an environmentally acceptable alternative. There is also a judgement that those who do not participate in this scheme should not subsidise, via the general fund, the availability of the scheme to participants. However, it is proposed that a subsidy is offered to those in receipt of benefits described above and to those who require a second or additional sacks. The proposal is that this subsidy is offered at 50%.
6. Why £45?
In retendering the Environmental Service Contracts, contractors were asked to price for the cost of removing green waste from an estimated 10,000 households in the Borough. This therefore represents a tendered, i.e. market place, cost of the service, and is also mid-range in relation to what other District Councils are charging.
7. How does this fit in with our Waste Strategies?
The removal of BMW (biodegradable municipal waste) from the waste stream is one of the most pressing environmental challenges and forms a part of the Waverley Strategy, the current Surrey Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy, will be re-emphasised in the new Joint Strategy currently being compiled and forms a key plank of National Strategies and law (the Waste Emissions Trading Act and the Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme Regime) and European legislation (the EU Landfill Directive). This proposal also turns waste into a usable resource. It is therefore considered that this proposal in front of Members aligns itself completely with Local, National and European legislation and guidance.
comms/executive/2005/2006/081
