LONDON BOROUGH OF WALTHAM FOREST NEIGHBOURHOODS SCRUTINY COMMITTEE - PDF document

LONDON BOROUGH OF WALTHAM FOREST NEIGHBOURHOODS SCRUTINY COMMITTEE Committee/Date: 28th November 2018 Report Title: Changes to the Waste Service - Bin Presentation Directorate: Neighbourhoods and Commercial Services Contact Details Jarlath Griffin, Director of Neighbourhoods E: jarlath.griffin@walthamforest.gov.uk T: 020 8496 6787 Wards affected: All Public Access Open Appendices Appendix 1 – Equalities Assessment Appendix 2 – Implementation Plan Appendix 3 – Trial Results Appendix 4 – Examples of Compliant Bin Presentation 1. SUMMARY 1.1 To maintain weekly collections of residual waste Waltham Forest is looking at changes that bring in more efficiencies and /or reduce costs. One way that this can be achieved is by implementing a new approach whereby residents are required to bring their bins to the edge of their property’s boundary for collection. 2. RECOMMENDATION 2.1 The Committee is asked to review the proposed changes to the waste collection service and to ask questions of witnesses and make recommendations as required. 3. BACKGROUND 3.1 The Neighbourhoods Team is looking at improving efficiency/reducing costs within the waste service and it has been identified that one way of reducing costs is to ask that residents bring their bins to the edge of their property’s boundary for collection. Please see Appendix 4 for some pictorial examples of bins that have been presented correctly. Adopting this new policy will help to speed up the bin collection process since contractor staff will be able to pick up more bins per week. This in

turn will mean that fewer crews are needed to cover same area, and will reduce the overall number of vehicles required. It has been estimated that costs can be reduced by approximately £450k per year by implementing this policy. The efficiencies generated by adopting this policy will allow the Council to continue to provide weekly refuse collections, something which residents have told us is important to them. 4. PROPOSAL Note that the policy of requesting that residents present their bin at the edge of their property boundary is standard practice among many London boroughs and in fact Waltham Forest is currently unusual in terms of not requiring it. 4.1 Scope These changes will apply to houses and blocks of flats (with less than five units) that have wheelie bins. It will include normal household waste (black bins) as well as recycled waste (green bins) and garden waste (brown bins). Note that properties with wheelie bins represent about 78% of all properties in the borough (with 19% using communal bins and 3% using bags). 4.2. Trial In order to test the new collection system an eight week trial was carried out in Cann Hall and Chingford Green wards. The trial has been evaluated and it was found that by the end of the trial period, hardly any bins were incorrectly presented. Also very few complaints were received from residents. Please see Appendix 3 for further detail on the trial results. The feedback from the crews was that residents in Chingford Green were very quick to adopt the new policy. Meanwhile, in Cann Hall ward, it was found that many of the properties had relatively small areas in front of their properties meaning that it was not necessary to move bins for collection. A report on these changes is due to be presented at cabinet on 13 th December 2018.

4.3 Supported collections As part of the changes, residents who are unable to move their wheelie bins to the property boundary due to disability, a mobility problem or general ill health can apply for a supported collection through the council’s website: https://www.walthamforest.gov.uk/content/arrange-supported-bin- collection Note that suitability for the supported collection service will be assessed by submission of one of the following documents:  Council tax letter – demonstrating the resident lives alone  Doctors note regarding a relevant health issue  Blue badge for disabled parking  Other document relating to a temporary reason 5. CONCLUSION 5.1 The trial of the new policy has been successful and it is therefore proposed that the new system for bin presentation is rolled out across the borough as a whole. The implementation of the new policy will include a number of stages:  Communications - all households will receive a letter explaining the changes  Raising awareness – residents will be given additional time in order to understand the new requirements  Standard service – if bins are not presented properly they will not be collected  Enforcement – if bins are not presented for collection and are full / overflowing and causing a nuisance, the Council may issue a fixed penalty notice (FPN). The implementation will be carried out on a phased basis, starting in January 2019. Please see Appendix 2 for further details. Note that frequently asked questions explaining the policy will be available to residents on the Council’s website: www.walthamforest.gov.uk/binpresentation 6. IMPLICATIONS 6.1 Finance, Value for Money and Risk 6.1.1 It is estimated that a new policy could reduce the tender price of the new contract by up to £450,000 a year. This efficiency is derived as follows:

 19 crews picking up waste across the borough  Under the new policy each crew should be able to collect an extra 120 bins per day / 600 bins per week.  2 fewer crews are needed to pick the same number of bins 7.0 Legal 7.1. The Council has a statutory duty under section 45 Environmental Protection Act 1990 to collect household waste in its area. Under section 46 Environmental Protection Act 1990 the Council may, by notice to property occupiers, require that the waste for collection be placed in specific receptacles, i.e. wheelie bins, an specify where the receptacles must be placed to facilitate emptying them. Therefore, the Act allows for the new policy to be adopted and the proposed letter to all households as set out in paragraph 3.4 above will constitute notice for the purposes of the Act. 8.0 Equalities and Diversity 8.1 Some disabled, elderly and pregnant residents may be impacted by the changes to the policy on bin presentation, however, the impact is mitigated by the supported collection service. The Council offers a supported collection service and residents may apply for this through the Council website. Please see Appendix 1 for further details on the equality assessment that has been carried out. 9.0 Sustainability (including climate change, health, crime and disorder 9.1 Under this proposal fewer collection crews will be required to pick up bins since the rounds will be completed more quickly. This will mean that fewer vehicles will be required and less CO2 is produced. There will therefore be a positive impact on air quality and transport / congestion. 10.0 Council Infrastructure (e.g. human resources, accommodation or IT issues 10.1 Not applicable. 11.0 Implications for Looked After Children/Care Leavers 11.1 Not applicable. BACKGROUND INFORMATION (as defined by Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985) None.