Agenda item

To note the progress with the HRRC extension and the performance of the Partnership’s contracts.

The officer presented the contract performance report and provided an update on the performance of the transfer, treatment, recycling, and disposal services procured and managed by the South London Waste Partnership on behalf of the four Partner Boroughs. The services covered in this presentation were as follows:

I. Food and green waste treatment services

II. Household Reuse and Recycling Centre (HRRC) services, and

III. Residual waste treatment services.

This presentation provided performance data for the quarters one and two in 2023/24 from 1st April 2023 to 30th September 2023.

The officer highlighted a reduction of 5% food waste collection across the partnership compared to 7% reduction in outer London Boroughs. Whilst the volumes were down, bringing positive news for food waste reduction, however figures also showed an increase in garden waste. This could be attributed to cost of living crisis and weather.

In response to questions, the officer noted it would be important to monitor trends and patterns in changes to volume. The officer highlighted a previous campaign and noted that around 30-40% of households participated in food waste recycling programmes.

In response to questions regarding contamination, the officer noted that the partnership received regular reports and updates from contractors and there was no contamination in food waste within South London Waste Partnership. The material from SLWP was consistently good quality with waste deliveries never rejected. 

In response to questions regarding collections from flats, the officer confirmed that any contamination was removed before waste was sent to Anaerobic digestors. The biggest opportunity for the borough was in redesigning services for example the bins provided and bags/sacks. From a waste composition analysis in 2022, it was found that 30% of household waste was made up of food waste. There was a huge potential as those who currently had access to food waste disposal weren’t utilizing it or using it to its full potential. The campaigns gave a return of investment saving £100 per tonne when food waste was sent to Anaerobic digestors.

The officer noted that the recycling rate was averaging 66% across the 6 sites, which showed good performance. There was a substantial increase in mattress waste through HRRC’s and collections. Possibly related to bed bug issue. Some of these mattresses went to third party centres for recycling, others had the metal recycled. Partnership would engage with third parties, waste, and recycling lobbying groups etc to find further avenues for recycling mattresses. Members raised the point of looking at prevention rather than recycling and looking into producer responsibility for mattresses. Members also raised the possibility and scope of looking into specific recycling schemes as mattresses have good materials and could produce revenue.

Each HRRC was separating 33 different waste streams. Paper and cardboard showed no great change in volumes. Bag splitting trials were carried out across sites to see what goes into residual bins, results showed 30% of were recyclable. The focus would be to encourage people to separate out recycling.

There was an upcoming change in legislation for rubble charging in Sutton to prohibit charges for residents to deposit rubble. In quarters one and two, there was a good utilisation for sites and booking systems across three boroughs, with sites well utilised by vans bringing recycling. 

The officer spoke of the social value of the partnership and highlighted the toy giveaway schemes, where the public could take items via charities. This was a welcomed initiative giving the cost-of-living crisis and planned to run until Christmas. The current partnership contract was due to be concluded spring in 2024.

In response to questions, the officer highlighted that recycling rates at HRRC compared favourably to other boroughs and metropolitan areas.

In response to questions about bicycles, the officer replied that within HRRC’s there was a lot of recovery of bicycles that made their way to repair and reuse shops. This was part of a social enterprise which took bikes and repaired as road worthy. Bikes were highlighted as a key issue in Kingston. The partnership would engage with Veolia to get more information and report back on data.

The report highlighted just over 100,001 tonnes of residual waste processed at the Viridor residual waste facility showing a 3% increase on previous year. Residual waste appeared to be static when new housing was considered.

The report outlined an incident in October which led to a schedule 5 notice being issued to the environment agency. A couple of incidents linked to downtime at the facility through issues with UK power network supply lines both outside and within the facility. Breaks in power caused the facility to come offline as backup power supplies failed. Members of the CLG were involved in those incidents. Follow up investigations were pending with the Environment agency and Viridor to inform improvements. It has been arranged for UK power networks to take repairs and bring the facility up to track. The facility would be taken into island mode on 10-12^th Dec to undertake repairs. The facility would still process waste but not connect to electricity.

The gas cannister detection project involved new artificial intelligence cameras currently being trialled. Officers were trying to track and identify cannisters as they could explode or cause damage, negatively impacting the operational effectiveness of the plant. Viridor have been running a promotional campaign for about 6 months to promote awareness. Partnership was engaged with RHRRC contractor and the environment agency to allow some variation to site permits so gas cannisters could be received through HRRC’s. This was hoped to begin from early 2024.

In response to a question regarding findings and reports, the officer informed the committee that they have raised this with Viridor who were still in their configuration phase. Once meaningful reports become produced, the partnership will report back to the committee.

Transparency of emissions data was available on virtual visitor centre operated by Viridor and could be accessed by the public.

The residual waste treatment contract, a permit variation applied for by Viridor 10^th November, was still being determined by the EA. There was no fixed date for the outcome. Members highlighted they had strongly objected to the permit variation or increase in the capacity processed at the incinerator at ERF.

RESOLVED: to note the report and the progress of the HRRC extension at set out in paragraph 1.2 of the report.