Agenda and draft minutes

Councillor Edge

The Chair will consider the admission of any late items of          urgent business. Where the item is already included on the agenda, it will appear        under that item but new items of urgent business will be dealt with at item 6.

None notified

A member with a personal interest in a matter who attends a meeting of the Authority at which the matter is considered must disclose to that meeting the existence and nature of that interest at the commencement of that consideration, or when the interest becomes apparent.

A  member with a personal interest in a matter also has a prejudicial interest in that matter if the interest is one which a member of the public with knowledge of the relevant facts would reasonably regard as so significant that it is likely to prejudice the member’s judgement of the public interest.

None notified

To confirm and sign the Minutes of the meeting held on 22 September 2008 - attached.

The minutes of the meeting held on 22 September 2008 were agreed.

To discuss possible solutions on how to manage contamination of materials in co-mingled collection and             to consider areas of best practice.

REAL RECYCLING:

The panel welcomed Andy Moore, Campaign Co-ordinator, Real Recycling; to the meeting to discuss the issues relating to source separated and co-mingled recycling collection methods. 

The Campaign for Real Recycling wants central government and local authorities to act urgently to improve the quality of materials collected for recycling in the UK.  Their main concern is that collection systems that gather a range of different materials in one bag or bin and then compact them could permanently undermine the environmental and financial benefits of recycling. Real Recycling campaign aims to influence local authority policy and practice, and build consensus within the UK of the economic and environmental importance of highly separated collections - Real Recycling is about maximising the economic, environmental and social benefits of recycling.

Within the North London Waste Authority there are a range of dry recycling collection systems operating in North London. Three boroughs Barnet, Hackney and Waltham Forest providing a source separated collection service whereby a range of dry recyclables are collected from householders and then the individual materials are sorted into different compartments on the collection vehicle at the kerbside, materials are then bulked up or directly transferred to the reprocessors.

The other four boroughs Camden, Enfield, Haringey and Islington provide a co-mingled service whereby the materials collected from householders mixed up together and then taken to a materials recovery

Source separated' collection systems, however, produce materials that can be reprocessed, usually in the UK.

 In practice this means residents have one or more separate boxes for different 'dry' recyclable materials and another for 'wet' materials such as kitchen waste. These materials are then collected in a way that maintains this separation, usually by placing the materials into different containers on the collection vehicle.

UK reprocessors of paper and glass, clothes and aluminium prefer (and often pay higher prices for) source separated materials.

The improved price for materials collected can be used to offset collection costs.

The Campaign for Real Recycling wants local authorities to ensure reprocessors receive their materials in the same condition as when the householder dropped them into the recycling box in their kitchen.

The needs of the re-processor should be central to the design of any collection system.

Source separated collection systems separate materials as much as possible before they arrive at the local recycling depot ready for sale to reprocessors.

During 2006-07, local authorities reported a total of 89,000 tonnes collected for recycling from household sources as rejected for disposal at a MRF and a further 32,000 tonnes that were rejected at the gate of a recycling processor. These stats are based on data reported by local authorities to Waste Dataflow. Expressed as a percentage of the 1.3 million tonnes of municipal waste sent to sorting facilities, this means that over 9% of material set out for recycling doesn’t actually get recycled.

Andy Moore, said Householders should be disappointed and frustrated to hear this figure. They have made the effort to save and sort their  ...  view the full minutes text for item 13.

To deal with any items of urgent business admitted at item 2 above.

Yunia Semmbo                                                                                            Sharon Miller

Head of Members Services                                        Principal Scrutiny Support Officer

225 River Park House                                                            Telephone: 020 8489-2928

Wood Green N22 4HQ                                        E-mail Sharon.miller@haringey.gov.uk

None submitted