North Yorkshire Council

Transport, Economy, Environment and Enterprise

Overview and Scrutiny Committee

25 May 2023

Service Harmonisation – Waste and Recycling

Report of the Corporate Director of Environment.

1.0       PURPOSE OF REPORT

1.1       To present the work to date of the Central Waste Management Team in relation to the future harmonisation of waste and recycling services across North Yorkshire, and to receive Member’s views thereon.

2.0       BACKGROUND

2.1       The new North Yorkshire Council as a Unitary Authority has a duty under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to arrange for both the collection and disposal of household waste. Under the previous two tiers of local government these duties were split between the seven District and Borough Councils as Waste Collection Authorities (WCAs), and North Yorkshire County Council as the Waste Disposal Authority (WDA).

2.2       A piece of work has commenced to plan how collections can be harmonised to provide quality, efficient and effective services to resident.

3.0       REPORT

3.1       In North Yorkshire, Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) has brought together seven waste collection services that all provide collections differently. Good progress has been made on integrating and rationalising services to achieve service consistency, for example, it has already been agreed to bring the Selby Urbaser service provision in house and to adopt a consistent approach to garden waste charging.  

3.2       LGR provides an opportunity to harmonise waste recycling and disposal services into a single model. The WCAs and WDA have been working with WRAP and environmental consultancy Eunomia to evaluate the existing approaches and how best to integrate food waste collections.

3.3       A presentation on some of the work to date was made at a Members Seminar on 10 May and officers are now seeking further feedback from this committee.

4.0       CONTRIBUTION TO COUNCIL PRIORITIES

4.1       The Council has declared a Climate Emergency and pledged to play its part in tackling the causes and impacts of climate change.

4.2       Service harmonisation delivers the following specific Council Plan ambitions:

· Place and Environment:

o A clean, environmentally sustainable and attractive place to live, work and visit

o Communities are supported and work together to improve their local area

· Health and Wellbeing

o People are supported to have a good quality of life and enjoy active and healthy lifestyles

· Organisation

o A carbon neutral council

5.0       ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS CONSIDERED

5.1       No alternative options were considered. This report is for information only.

6.0       IMPACT ON OTHER SERVICES/ORGANISATIONS

6.1       Service harmonisation will have impact on a wide range of services, but this report is for information only.

7.0       FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

7.1 Service harmonisation will have financial implications which will be included in reports at the appropriate time. As this report is for information only at this stage, there are no financial implications arising directly from the report.

8.0 LEGAL IMPLICATIONS

8.1       North Yorkshire Council as a Unitary Authority has a duty under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to arrange for the collection and disposal of household waste, and to comply with the waste provisions contained within the Environment Act 2021 and future secondary legislation and statutory guidance.

9.0       EQUALITIES IMPLICATIONS

9.1       An Equality Impact Assessment screening will be undertaken as the project develops.

10.0     CLIMATE CHANGE IMPLICATIONS

10.1     A Climate Change Impact Assessment screening will be undertaken as the project develops.

11.0     POLICY IMPLICATIONS

11.1     Service harmonisation will require the development of a range of new policies, but this report is for information only.

12.0     REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATIONS

12.1     For Members to note the work to date and provide their views on future service harmonisation.

13.0	RECOMMENDATION
	i) Members note the feedback and provide views for which will be fed into the project plan.

APPENDICES:

None – presentation to be provided on the day.

BACKGROUND DOCUMENTS:

None

Karl Battersby

Corporate Director – Environment

County Hall

Northallerton

05.05.23

Report Authors – Peter Jeffreys, Head of Service – Waste

                            Aimi Brookes, Service Development Manager - Waste    

Presenters of Report: Peter Jeffreys, Head of Service – Waste

                                    Aimi Brookes, Service Development Manager - Waste

Note: Members are invited to contact the authors in advance of the meeting with any detailed queries or questions.