Agenda item
MOTION ON NOTICE - RECYCLING
To consider the motion to be proposed by Councillor Paul Stubbins. Seconded by Councillors Mandy Bannon and Tim Dant.
“Purpose:
· To increase the proportion of local household waste that is recycled and to minimise residual waste (which cannot be recycled).
· To achieve this through greater collaborative work between Lancaster City Council and its residents by raising awareness of recycling issues, sharing targets and consulting widely on how best to facilitate this.
Recommendations
Full Council, welcomes the progress that is being made to reduce residual waste per household and to increase the scope of plastic that can be recycled.
Council recognises that there is a pressing need however to improve recycling efforts within our City and with the support of County. Council aims to achieve this by putting recycling high on our agenda and committing to share the responsibility and actions needed to be taken.
Full Council therefore:
- Commits to being active in promoting waste prevention, reduction and reuse activities in all wards across our City.
- Requests that Overview and Scrutiny committee investigates best practice in achieving higher recycling rates by consulting with other councils, residents and City Councillors. For example asking residents and members what they want to know about recycling, how this might be presented and how they wish to be kept informed.
- Requests County provides the necessary local recycling information needed to support our aim to substantially increase public engagement and outcomes for recycling.
- Requests that better, more meaningful targets for recycling be set and progress reported at least quarterly on the Council Website, annually on the recycling guidance cards that are posted to residents, and by any other means that Overview and Scrutiny may recommend.
- Requests that more detailed information be provided on the Council’s website of the ways materials can be recycled in our own district particularly where materials might be reused by local organisations.
- Encourages individuals and community groups to create specialist reuse or recycling projects for their areas.
Notes
There are many effective ways to reduce the generation of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane. Composting reduces anaerobic decomposition of organic waste at landfill, whilst reducing waste and increasing recycling saves energy that would have been used in the production of materials.
Using recycled materials, instead of trees, metal ores, minerals, oil and other raw materials harvested from the earth, also conserves the world's scarce natural resources.
Whilst the majority of Household Waste is derived from households, it also includes waste from street bins, street sweepings, parks and grounds.
Lancaster is making progress in reducing residual waste per household. In 2017/18 residual waste per household was 482.9kg, the 6th best in Lancashire. We continued to reduce that figure in 2018/19, achieving the biggest in-year improvement in Lancashire.
In the financial year 2017/18, 35.64% of household waste was recycled in Lancaster, which fell below the North West and England rates of 44.7% and 43.2% respectively. At the district/unitary level, recycling, reuse and composting rates varied between a low of 29.8% in Preston to 47.5% in Fylde, with the best achieving local authority in the North West Region being Trafford at 59%. Our target in Lancaster this year was 45% but we have achieved just 36%. With the City Council set to adopt the EU target of 50% of household waste to be recycled by 2020, it is clear that we need to make huge strides to achieve this.
Although targets are being set and monitored by Lancaster City Council for the percentage of household waste recycled and residual waste collected, this information is not widely shared with residents. This is a lost opportunity to develop awareness amongst the public and to share the challenges that we face. Detailed recycling information is collected and reported by County for DEFRA and so this could be accessed and presented for local use.
Greater support is required to let people know what can and cannot be recycled, in particular, awareness of types of plastics that can be recycled and how food residue contaminates recycling. In doing so, Council needs to support elderly and transient populations on an ongoing basis, without expecting such residents to be proactive in accessing the internet.”
An officer briefing note is attached.
Minutes:
Councillor Stubbins proposed the following motion having given the required notice to the Chief Executive in accordance with Council Procedure Rule 15:-
“Purpose:
· To increase the proportion of local household waste that is recycled and to minimise residual waste (which cannot be recycled).
· To achieve this through greater collaborative work between Lancaster City Council and its residents by raising awareness of recycling issues, sharing targets and consulting widely on how best to facilitate this.
Recommendations:
Full Council welcomes the progress that is being made to reduce residual waste per household and to increase the scope of plastic that can be recycled.
Council recognises that there is a pressing need however to improve recycling efforts within our City and with the support of County. Council aims to achieve this by putting recycling high on our agenda and committing to share the responsibility and actions needed to be taken.
Full Council therefore:
- Commits to being active in promoting waste prevention, reduction and reuse activities in all wards across our City.
- Requests that Overview and Scrutiny committee investigates best practice in achieving higher recycling rates by consulting with other councils, residents and City Councillors. For example asking residents and members what they want to know about recycling, how this might be presented and how they wish to be kept informed.
- Requests County provides the necessary local recycling information needed to support our aim to substantially increase public engagement and outcomes for recycling.
- Requests that better, more meaningful targets for recycling be set and progress reported at least quarterly on the Council Website, annually on the recycling guidance cards that are posted to residents, and by any other means that Overview and Scrutiny may recommend.
- Requests that more detailed information be provided on the Council’s website of the ways materials can be recycled in our own district particularly where materials might be reused by local organisations.
- Encourages individuals and community groups to create specialist reuse or recycling projects for their areas.
Notes
There are many effective ways to reduce the generation of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane. Composting reduces anaerobic decomposition of organic waste at landfill, whilst reducing waste and increasing recycling saves energy that would have been used in the production of materials.
Using recycled materials, instead of trees, metal ores, minerals, oil and other raw materials harvested from the earth, also conserves the world's scarce natural resources.
Whilst the majority of Household Waste is derived from households, it also includes waste from street bins, street sweepings, parks and grounds.
Lancaster is making progress in reducing residual waste per household. In 2017/18 residual waste per household was 482.9kg, the 6th best in Lancashire. We continued to reduce that figure in 2018/19, achieving the biggest in-year improvement in Lancashire.
In the financial year 2017/18, 35.64% of household waste was recycled in Lancaster, which fell below the North West and England rates of 44.7% and 43.2% respectively. At the district/unitary level, recycling, reuse and composting rates varied between a low of 29.8% in Preston to 47.5% in Fylde, with the best achieving local authority in the North West Region being Trafford at 59%. Our target in Lancaster this year was 45% but we have achieved just 36%. With the City Council set to adopt the EU target of 50% of household waste to be recycled by 2020, it is clear that we need to make huge strides to achieve this.
Although targets are being set and monitored by Lancaster City Council for the percentage of household waste recycled and residual waste collected, this information is not widely shared with residents. This is a lost opportunity to develop awareness amongst the public and to share the challenges that we face. Detailed recycling information is collected and reported by County for DEFRA and so this could be accessed and presented for local use.
Greater support is required to let people know what can and cannot be recycled, in particular, awareness of types of plastics that can be recycled and how food residue contaminates recycling. In doing so, Council needs to support elderly and transient populations on an ongoing basis, without expecting such residents to be proactive in accessing the internet.”
An officer briefing note had been included with the agenda.
Councillor Dant seconded the motion.
An amendment was moved by Councillor Frea and seconded by Councillor O’Dwyer-Henry “that ‘Overview and Scrutiny committee’ be replaced by the ‘Climate Emergency Advisory Group’ in the second and fourth bullet points.” This was not accepted as a friendly amendment by the proposer and seconder of the motion.
Debate followed on the amendment before a vote was taken and the amendment was lost.
By way of a friendly amendment, Councillor Heath proposed, seconded by Councillor Knight:
“That the Overview and Scrutiny Committee set up a working group open to all councillors.”
With the agreement of the meeting and his seconder, Councillor Stubbins accepted this as a friendly amendment.
By way of a further friendly amendment, which was accepted as a friendly amendment by Councillor Stubbins and Councillor Dant, Councillor Brookes proposed:
“That the words ‘on the recycling guidance cards’ in bullet point (4) be replaced with ‘in the Your District Council Matters newsletters’ with the word ‘any’ deleted before ‘other’ and the word ‘suitable’ inserted after the word ‘other’.
At the conclusion of the debate a vote was taken and the amended motion was clearly carried.
Resolved:-
1) Council welcomes the progress that is being made to reduce residual waste per household and to increase the scope of plastic that can be recycled.
2) Council recognises that there is a pressing need however to improve recycling efforts within our City and with the support of County. Council aims to achieve this by putting recycling high on our agenda and committing to share the responsibility and actions needed to be taken.
3) Council therefore:
a) Commits to being active in promoting waste prevention, reduction and reuse activities in all wards across our City.
b) Requests that Overview and Scrutiny committee set up a working group open to all Councillors to investigate best practice in achieving higher recycling rates by consulting with other councils, residents and City Councillors. For example asking residents and members what they want to know about recycling, how this might be presented and how they wish to be kept informed.
c) Requests County provides the necessary local recycling information needed to support our aim to substantially increase public engagement and outcomes for recycling.
d) Requests that better, more meaningful targets for recycling be set and progress reported at least quarterly on the Council Website, annually in the Your District Council Matters newsletters that are posted to residents, and by other suitable means that Overview and Scrutiny may recommend.
e) Requests that more detailed information be provided on the Council’s website of the ways materials can be recycled in our own district particularly where materials might be reused by local organisations.
f) Encourages individuals and community groups to create specialist reuse or recycling projects for their areas.
Supporting documents: