Agenda item

To note an update on waste and recycling.

The Panel received a report which provided an update on the borough’s waste, recycling, and street cleansing performance. The report was introduced by Beth Waltzer, Community Safety, Enforcement and Waste Manager as set out in the agenda pack at pages 51-70. The following arose during the discussion of the report:

1. The Panel members advised that they had been contacted by residents during their surgeries about the issue of missed collections and instances of black bags being left next to bins and not being collected. In response, officers highlighted that the authority undertook around 300k collections per week and that the missed collection rate was very low. However, officers suggested that Members could feed back to them directly on cases where something had been missed and that officers would follow up on these. Officers also commented that Veolia had a number of staff shortages for HGV drivers as they were unable to compete with pay levels in the private sector. This resulted in the use of agency staff, who were perhaps not so familiar with the routes. Officers were keen to point out that the borough retained weekly recycling collections and that there should therefore be enough waste collection to prevent having additional black bin bags left out.
2. The Panel requested the ability to report missed refuse collections through the Haringey Love Clean Streets app. Officers responded that a microsite was being developed, which would include the ability for residents to report missed collections.
3. The Panel raised concerns about graffiti on Parkland Walk and whether this tended to fall between the gaps between the Parks department and Veolia. In response, the Panel was advised that Veolia were responsible for removing graffiti regardless of whose land it was on. Officers requested that Members provide details of any instances of graffiti.
4. The Panel questioned the extent to which street litter was more evident in the east compared to the west of the borough. In response, officers acknowledged that there were always areas where street litter was more prevalent in certain areas. Haringey had a frequency based contract so that streets were swept once a week regardless of location.
5. The Panel sought clarification about how the authority could boost its recycling rate. The Panel also questioned how the NLWA were seeking to increase recycling and what was being done to improve messaging and engagement campaigns around litter. Officers advised that they were seeking to undertake a waste composition analysis to look at what items were and were not being recycled. It was hoped that this would allow the authority to tailor its communications messaging to particular areas and locations. Veolia also had two outreach workers and the Carbon Management team also had an outreach worker who went out into schools and undertook engagement work. Officers agreed to come back to Members with more information on the timetable for educational outreach programmes. (Action: Beth Waltzer).
6. Officers also advised the Panel that the government had introduced a number of waste legislation changes that were due to come in for 2024/25 and that it was hoped that this would increase recycling rates.
7. The Panel questioned what could be done around differentiating the colours of the bins used, in order to reduce instances of contamination and residents putting the wrong type of refuse in the bin.  In relation to the Council’s litter strategy, officers were looking at whether the Council had the right bins and whether these were in the right locations and the Panel  were assured that they could look at dual recycling bins as part of this. It was noted that dual recycling bins had pros and cons attached to them and could result in higher levels of contamination.
8. The Panel queried what plans there were for further rollout of black boxes across the borough. In response, officers advised that the introduction of black boxes were not suitable to every location in the borough, with their location determined by factors such as the width of pavements and the need for those locations to be accessible and safe for the Veolia waste crews to collect the waste.
9. In response to the point raised about use of agency workers, Members sought assurances that the authority was engaging with relevant union reps to iron out any problems with staff performance. In response, officers advised that Veolia had a very strong relationship with their staff, including engaging with Trade Unions.

RESOLVED

That Members are asked to note the content of the report relating to the waste, recycling, and street cleansing services.