Agenda item

To follow up on recommendations agreed by Cabinet (December 2012)

A report was submitted by Single Front Line updating the panel on progress in implementing agreed recommendations from its review of the new waste and recycling service which was completed in October 2012.  

Miltons

It was reported that a further consultation had been undertaken with residents in the Milton’s area to gauge satisfaction with the waste and recycling collection service (residents had experienced problems of too many waste receptacles).  It was noted that 28/130 households responded of which 50% were dissatisfied with current arrangements.  It was decided that there would be no service alteration as a result.

Contamination policy

It was suggested that HMOs were a continual problem with non-compliance with waste and recycling collection systems. It was noted that in supporting the implementation of the new contamination policy, Veolia were working with local landlords.  Officers had attended the local landlord’s forum to help raise awareness and promote compliance.  Officers were also working with the Private Sector Housing Improvement Team to support the operation of the discretionary licensing scheme.

It was noted that out of over 40,000 residual waste collections every week, between 400 and 500 were contaminated (approximately 1%).  A Fixed Penalty Notice system supported the new contamination policy, though no data was available as yet on whether any had been issued.

Agreed: that the panel receive a short brief on the waste contamination policy outcomes at its next meeting in November (practical options leading from the policy).

The panel were concerned about the current level of recycling on local estates managed by social landlords (Homes for Haringey and other registered providers). It was suggested that further work should be undertaken to engage and educate residents of the benefits of recycling and to promote compliance with local recycling collections systems.  The panel noted that a new food waste collection system was being rolled out in June 2014 and this would provide a further opportunity to engage with residents in flats and other estate properties and to promote recycling.

It was suggested that there were often small scale examples of good waste and recycling practice in the community though this work wasn’t always acknowledged or recognised.  As a result, the panel were concerned that the learning points from this work was not fully captured and potential opportunities to replicate it more widely were missed.  It was suggested that Veolia should engage with local community groups to explore the possibility of commissioning small projects to support such initiatives.

The panel questioned whether all street sweepers were equipped to pick up dog excrement from the pavement, as there appeared to be some local inconsistency.  Veolia noted that street sweepers should be equipped to deal with dog excrement and this should be undertaken routinely.  Whilst it was noted that the number of complaints about removal of dog excrement had declined, Veolia noted that it was always looking to improve performance on this issue.

It was confirmed to the panel that street sweeping would continue to be undertaken twice weekly and that there were no plans for streets to be swept on a needs only basis.

The panel discussed waste monitoring and reporting in the community, where the panel perceived that that this could be improved. It was noted that Veolia were installing ‘google type’ cameras on to waste collection fleet as this would provide photographic snapshots of dumped waste.  This information could then be reviewed and guide further street enforcement work.