Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED that Councillor David Mansfield be elected Chairman of the Joint Waste Collection Services Committee for the 2020/21 municipal year.

COUNCILLOR MANSFIELD IN THE CHAIR

The Committee thanked Councillor Goodman for the support that he had given to the Joint Waste Collection Services Committee.

RESOLVED that Councillor Mary Marshall be appointed Vice-Chairman of the Joint Waste Collection Services Committee for the 2020/21 municipal year.

There were no declarations of interest.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting of the Joint Waste Collection Services Committee held on 26^th February 2020.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of the Joint Waste Collection Services Committee held on 26^th February 2020 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

To consider a report setting out the operational strategy for Joint Waste Solutions for the 2020-21 municipal year.

The Committee received a report setting out the Joint Waste Solutions (JWS) Operations Programme for the 2020-21 financial year.  The programme set out the key priorities and projects for JWS placing a focus on the outcomes that would make a difference to the contract, teams, individuals and residents whilst at the same time improving the overall efficiency and effectiveness of JWS.

It was noted that the Covid-19 pandemic had impacted on the service and it was agreed that any learning from this be incorporated into the programme in order that the service was well placed to react in the event that there was a repeat incident.

The Committee noted the Programme.

To receive a report summarising the performance of the Amey contract over the 2019/20 municipal year and setting out the contract improvement plan for the 2020/21 municipal year.

The Committee considered the Contract Service Report for 2019-20.  The report included a summary of Amey’s work to deliver on and improve contractual performance during the 2019/20 financial year, an overview of the contract’s financial performance and a forward look.

Key achievements during the 2019/20 included: the implementation of a new management structure which had resulted in improved accountability and engagement with front line teams, improvements to street cleansing and litter and detritus (LADS) results, the establishment of an improved working relationship between Amey and JWS (which had not only enabled productive operation decisions to be made but also resulted in the delivery of successful partnership working during the Covid-19 pandemic) and continued expansion of Amey’s social responsibility programme.  Work to improve Amey’s ICT systems was also ongoing.

Arising from the Committee’s questions and comments the following points were noted:

·         The quarter 1 targets set out in the Environmental Improvement Plan primarily focused on changing staff behaviour and setting Amey’s own house in order and this work was on target.  Quarter 2 actions would focus on monitoring carbon emissions, reuse and fix schemes and developing environmental initiatives that could be rolled out locally.

·         The Environmental Improvement Plan had been based on data and information which was available currently. Work was underway to improve the data sets available to make them more user friendly and the Plan would be reviewed as this work progressed.

·         13% of the total workforce on the ground made up of a pool of staff which was used to provide cover in the event of annual leave or sickness leave, a figure that equated to between 3 and 4 people at each depot and a significant amount of work had taken place to ensure that all permanent positions were filled by permanent staff.   Changes had been made to the induction processes used for agency staff which meant that if it became necessary to use agency staff then they were able to start work straight away

·         During the Covid-19 pandemic period, the Senior Management Team had built on its work to engage with crews and introduced weekly briefings and information updates to ensure that all staff received the same information and misinformation did not spread.  This had paid dividends with very low staff absence rates having been recorded over the pandemic period and the approach had been utilised when round changes were introduced in the Mole Valley area.

The Committee noted the report.

To receive a report setting out the financial position at the end of the 2019/20 financial year.

The Committee received a report providing a summary of the financial position of JWS at the end of the 2019/20 financial year.

 It was noted that the Contract Management Office (CMO) expenditure at the end of 2019/20 was £2,245,092 compared to a budget of £2,399,337 representing an underspend of £154,245; once carry forwards had been taken into account this underspend reduced to £46,687.  As a consequence of making an indexation adjustment to the core invoices, core expenditure at year end was £11,161,355, a figure which represented an underspend of £563,383 against the agreed budgets.  The variable charges paid in 209-20 totalled £2,001,389 of which £885,853 related to historic charges from previous financial years.

The Committee noted the report.

To receive a report providing an update on the latest quarterly position on recycling performance for the four authorities in the joint contract.

The Committee received a report providing a summary of the recycling performance of the four partner authorities.

It was noted that across the County there had been a decreasing trend in the tonnages of Dry Mixed Recycling (DMR) collected; a factor was partially attributed to the high proportion of materials that were considered to be non-recyclable either because of contamination or there were difficulties in finding markets for the materials.  Arising from the Committee’s questions and comments the following points were noted:

·         The rejection criteria used by the Materials Recovery Facilities (MRF) were subject to change and work was underway to improve the data collected through MRF sampling to ensure that rejection levels could be minimised.

·          It was unclear why food waste tonnages had reduced and work was underway to breakdown the tonnages by round to ascertain if there were any patterns in resident behaviour that could be targeted.

·         The emerging National Waste Strategy would place a requirement on producers to pay for the disposal of the plastic packaging materials that they produced and it was expected that this would have a significant impact on producers’ attitudes.

The Committee noted the report.

To receive a verbal update on the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic and the measures taken to mitigate these.

The Committee received an update on the delivery of waste collection services during the Covid-19 pandemic period and the following highlights were noted:

·         Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic period a full waste collection service had been maintained across the partnership area and engagement work with crews had meant that Amey had enjoyed low rates of staff absence and high morale levels amongst crews on the ground. 

·         Daily update calls had been held between JWS and Amey to ensure that information was shared in a timely manner.

·         Whilst there had been a temporary suspension of collections of WEEE and textiles due to difficulties with the end markets, this had been remedied and collections had now resumed.  Collections of all other waste streams had continued without interruption.

·         KPI deductions had been suspended for the duration of the pandemic.

·         Weekly information updates had been circulated to councillors.

The Committee commended the work that had taken place across the partnership area during the pandemic period to ensure that waste collections and street cleansing continued with minimal noticeable disruption and thanked all involved for their commitment to delivering the service. 

It was agreed that the Committee would formally thank both local authority officers, JWS staff and Amey staff for their work during this period.

It was agreed that the Committee’s September and November meetings would be held virtually.

It was noted that the meeting dates had been originally scheduled to coincide with meetings of the Surrey Environment Partnership and to reduce unnecessary travel.  As the meetings would be held virtually it was agreed that the September and November meetings would be rescheduled to reduce pressure on Members’ work schedules.