Agenda item

The Chairman introduced Cllr Dixie Darch (Lead Member for Environment and Climate Change) and Kirsty Larkins Service Director for Climate and Sustainability who provided an update and progress report on the potential savings of recycling centres.  Some of their comments included:

·         Confirmed that a petition had been received at the Full Council meeting regarding Dimmer Recycling Centre and that all members were fully aware of local people valuing their recycling centres.

·         Appreciated concerns already raised by the people of Somerset, however due to the financial emergency cost savings are needed to be made from the Waste budget.

·         Somerset currently have 16 recycling sites, in comparison to other South West councils this is a high ratio to households even if a further 5 centres were to close.

·         Commercial negotiations were underway with the current contractors, however until these are complete we are still in a state of ‘limbo’. 

·         Once all negotiations are completed a full public engagement consultation will be carried out before any final decisions are made. It is hoped there will be more clarity in the next few weeks.

During a question and answer type session, Cllr Dixie Darch and Kirsty Larkins provided some responses to points of detail.  A summary of some of the points and responses are provided below:

·         Impact any closures will have on the potential increase in flooding due to additional fly tipping?

Built into the saving would be additional funding to support any increase in fly tipping in the area and any enforcement that would be necessary to deter this from happening.

·         Have any calculations been done round the running of the centres, increase in clearing of fly tipping and what about increase in kerbside collections?

Different contractors manage the kerbside collections, and that further work and consultation needs to be done to ensure better solutions going forward.

Cannot determine how much fly tipping will be caused by any possible closures but have historical information from previous closures which we are basing assumptions on, however appreciate this is not perfect.  Experience shows that main culprits of fly tipping is mainly from rogue traders and not necessarily everyday homeowners.

·         Could everyone pay a small fee to use the recycling centres?

Unfortunately, legislation does not legally allow us to do this.

·         Can we go to recycling centres in other counties?

You would need to check with the appropriate Council whether there is any cross residents’ scheme in place.

·         What is the timescale of consultation?

Hoping early summer but need to ensure any consultation is right and meaningful.  Looking at a six-week window with pop up events taking place around the county.

·         Can the charge on garden waste collections be increased?

Yes, this can be looked at in the future along with the whole kerbside recycling.

·         Do you have figures and statistics of what gets recycled at these centres?

Yes, do have this information, which is very useful, however it is worth noting the increase in items now permitted to be collected within the weekly kerbside collections, for example small electrical items and batteries.

·         Do you have any plans to enlarge other recycling centres, as there are already huge queues at these centres and the potential closures will only exacerbate this?

There are no plans to enlarge centres, however cameras are installed in many centres to help aid the public to see for themselves current activity.

·         Are other authorities looking to close recycling centres across the country?

Yes, around a third of authorities are looking to close centres.

·         Recycling is one of the most environmentally friendly things we can do, so fundamentally a thing to be encouraged?

Totally agree and that we also need to ensure we look to re use and reduce consumption in order to help reduce the overall costs of recycling.

·         What is the figure you are looking to save?

Looking to save £1 million on the contract, and within other areas we are working incredibly hard to reduce the impact by other means.  The contract is due to run until 2031.

Cllr Dixie Darch (Lead Member for Environment and Climate Change) and Kirsty Larkins, Service Director for Climate and Sustainability thanked everyone for their extremely valuable comments as they acknowledged this was a very emotive issue.