Meeting documents

To consider the report.

The Joint Waste Scrutiny Panel reviewed and commented on the report and agree the following the recommendations to be considered by Somerset Waste Board:

That the Somerset Waste Board:

1.     Notes the considerable impact that Covid-19 has had on SWP

2.     Endorse the additional spend necessary to date to maintain critical services and authorises the Managing Director, in consultation with SMG and s151 officers, to ensure appropriate funding arrangements are in place to ensure that critical services are maintained.

The Chair invited Mickey Green to provide a verbal update on the Impact of COVID-19 on Somerset Waste Partnership. Covid-19 and the measures taken to control the virus have had significant impacts on the operation of the Somerset Waste Partnership, especially as it coincided with the change in collection contractor. There had been staff absences, considerably higher tonnages, difficulty accessing many streets due to parked cars, delays to building works and ICT projects. In line with the national lockdown guidance and due to the increasing risks of the virus transmission occurring on the recycling sites, all sites were closed with effect from Monday 23rd March.  Despite the lack of clear Government guidance, this approach was echoed by nearly all (at peak 98%) local authorities in the UK. There has been weekly reporting for all local authority’s around the country on determinate and action. Somerset Waste Partnership set up and shared meetings across the South West authorities.

Following Government guidance received on the 5th May, regarding the opening of sites to accept waste. 11 strategically placed sites on 11th May were reopened.  There were a number of restrictions imposed that included;

·       A reduced range of materials accepted to reduce residency time on site and any resultant off site queuing, whilst allowing the public to dispose of those items that could be constituted as a reason for an essential journey (residual, green, large domestic appliances & hazardous waste)

·       Use of off-site Highway support (temporary diversions) and Police Accredited Traffic Officers, strategically placed to ensure the impacts of the essential highway routes were minimised

·       Redeployment of Partner Authority Parking Services staff, acting as ‘meet & greet’ at the site entrances to ensure clear instructions of use were conveyed

·       Extended operating hours at most sites, using a standardised opening pattern for all

·       The enforcement of social distancing on site with the use of signage and barriers to prevent the ‘site wander’

·       An odd & even number plate system was employed to control the initial demand at the sites

·       Maximum car occupancy of 2 and the wearing of gloves on site were endorsed

·       No lifting assistance offered by site staff

·       Trailers & large vans were omitted from access, through the initial reopening stage.

Between the 20th and 24th June all 16 sites, gradually reverted back to ‘near normal’ operation, with the removal of control barriers and replacement of suitable ‘social distancing’ messaging placed around the sites – much like the ‘supermarket model’.  This meant that: Commercial waste acceptance, charged for commodity (hardcore, soil, tyres, asbestos, plasterboard, etc) and finally, from Saturday 27th June access for trailers & large vans at any time during opening time, were re-introduced. The only materials that are currently not being accepted on site are items for reuse, given the associated additional handling requirements.  Work continues to resolve these issues, with the expectation that from 1st August there maybe a reintroducing of reuse option at all of the sites, including the reopening of the Taunton reuse shop.

SWP has followed its Business Continuity Plan throughout and aimed to be robust but reasonable with contractors. Considering options and rejections, the national response to, and the risks posed by, Covid-19 have placed all our staff (working for Kier/Suez, Viridor or directly for SWP) under incredible pressure. The gratitude shown by the public towards key workers, including those dealing with their rubbish, was warmly welcomed by SWP and helped motivate staff who were working incredibly hard to maintain services. There have been a few noticeable impacts with regard to the tonnages handled at the kerbside, since the national lockdown and the temporary closure of Somerset’s recycling sites.  Residual waste being presented at the kerbside rose by 3% (an extra 11 tonnes per day) in April and by 5% (an extra 18 tonnes per day) during May. The green waste collection service was reinstated from the 11th May and as can be seen by the exponential rise (46% or an extra 52 tonnes per day) from the same period last year, there was a pent-up demand. Broadly speaking, recycling, refuse, assisted collection and clinical waste collections held up well through the Covid-19 first wave – they remained broadly at the level experienced under Kier and Suez are working to improve performance (whilst still coping with the ongoing challenges of Covid-19).

Garden waste was re-introduced on 11th May with the new routes; however, this was not undertaken effectively as the route mapping was not as efficient as it should have been. The reintroduction of this service also highlighted a few underlying ICT integration/data issues that meant that where customers tried to report issues, they were not to rectified as quickly as normal. Whilst 50% additional resources were initially deployed on the service (to cope with heavy tonnage and high levels of presentation after the service was suspended) this had been increased to over 100% additional resource, particularly on narrow access vehicles. A re-route of the garden waste service was undertaken on 6 July to address the underlying issues and hence improve performance. A different roll-out Recycle More programme results in costs for Districts as the current service package is more expensive than the previous, and for the County because the expected disposal savings are not realised. Costs are estimated at £494k for SCC and £1.806m for Districts.

The most significant move in the type of material fly tipped relates to that recorded as ‘black bags’ which has seen a rise from 15% last year to 25% during this period. We have also been monitoring the number of reported nuisance bonfire events through the 13-week period, these showing a total of 208 reported incidents, with an average of 16 per week or 4 per District area per week.  SWP are confident that the best decisions were made, given the uncertainties of the first wave of Covid-19, It should be noted that any future wave affecting Somerset could look very different or example potentially higher levels of staff absence (e.g. due to track and trace impacting on a higher proportion of the workforce) or local lockdowns. It is also likely to have cost implications, and whilst plans are being developed that minimise these, we cannot realistically eliminate them. SWP has undertaken an internal lesson-learned exercise, reviewed this with SMG and with our contractors (Viridor and Suez).

The Joint Waste Scrutiny Panel thanked Somerset Waste Partnership through its efforts during the pandemic and recognised its hard work, there was a discussion about Councils reporting to HMCLG on lost income or additional cost and ensuring no chance of double reporting was happening. A member informed the panel about freecycle events that happen the first weekend of each month. The Panel were also discussing an increase in the numbers of bonfires were being reported to Environmental health. There were impacts on fly tipping in terms of that were still being worked through as charity shops were still closed and people were dumping stuff outside of the shops. Through the climate change work there was a focus on fly tipping and one of the partner officers were leading on the project looking at the Hertfordshire approach.

The Joint Waste Scrutiny Panel reviewed and commented on the report and agreed the following the recommendations to be considered by Somerset Waste Board:

That the Somerset Waste Board:

1.     Notes the considerable impact that Covid-19 has had on SWP

2.     Endorse the additional spend necessary to date to maintain critical services and authorises the Managing Director, in consultation with SMG and s151 officers, to ensure appropriate funding arrangements are in place to ensure that critical services are maintained.