Agenda item

(1)       Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs) provided an integral part of the waste management service to Kent residents. The services provided at the sites complement waste collection authorities (WCA) collections, and other “bring site” activities i.e. local bottle banks etc. The HWRCs contributed by collecting 42% of the County’s recyclate. They provided places where residents might dispose of their household waste (recycling and residual) and in doing so fulfilled the statutory obligation under the Environmental Protection Act 1990.

(2)       Kent County Council had developed a network of nineteen sites across the county at an annual net cost of £7.4m net per annum.  During the budget setting process for 2011-13, the HWRC service identified a savings target of £290k to be achieved by 2012-13.  It was agreed that a review of HWRCs should be commissioned to identify how the saving could be met.

(3)       Twelve of the HWRCs were operated through contracts which would expire in July 2013. Therefore the review needed to examine how the savings could be realised within the existing contracts and the outcomes of the review would inform the re-tendering process for new contracts, to identify further opportunities for additional savings. Any changes to the current service could be trialled ahead of the main contract re-let in 2013 to evaluate customer, operational and cost impacts.

(4)       The review would examine the current provision and location of HWRCs, their operating policies, the potential for increasing income, as well as the options for making the required savings.  The output of the review would be a report giving a series of recommendations on how the HWRC service needed to change to deliver the optimum service.

(5)       It was recommended that a cross-party Informal Member Group be convened to guide the work of the review and to consider the draft conclusions and recommendations to be made to Cabinet and Policy Overview and Scrutiny Committee.  The Informal Member Group would, at a minimum, meet at the beginning of the review process (April) to agree the key questions of the review and the project plan, in July to receive the first draft recommendations and in late July/August to hear the results of the peer review and external consultation, and to inform the decision on what actions would be recommended. 

(6)       During debate the following issues were raised:-

            (a)       Mrs Tweed asked

                        (i)         if there had been any serious consideration to introducing a nominal charge for the use of an HWRC.  Mrs Barton stated that there was no proposal to charge in Kent at the moment.

                        (ii)        if Ashford was any nearer to getting a waste transfer station.  Mrs Barton stated that there was money in the capital programme for a waste transfer station at Ashford, and proposals were underway to bring provision forward.

(b)               Mr Cubitt asked if the review was related to recycling centres and transfer stations or just recycling centres.  Mrs Barton confirmed that although the transfer stations were co-located, the review was of recycling centres.

(7)       RESOLVED that:-

            (a)     the formation of an Informal Member Group to guide the review be agreed; and

(b)     the review recommendations be brought to the meeting of the Policy Overview and Scrutiny Committee in September 2011.