Agenda item

Members considered the report of the Lead Director which provided analysis and commentary on the standards of service performance achieved through the Joint Waste Contract for the period December 2020 to February 2021.

An update position of each individual Partner’s local service preparations was provided as follows:

Hastings Borough Council: Collection performance was now within target.  Work continued with Biffa to address service issues and drive improvement which had in most cases resulted in a high quality and reliable service.  Minimal service disruption had been realised during the pandemic as a result of Biffa successfully managing staff absences.

Rother District Council: Overall Biffa had provided a good level of service despite COVID-19 challenges and weather conditions with collection performance on target.  Staff absences had averaged at 10% during January and February; close monitoring would continue.  Work would continue to improve the quality and materials collected at all recycling centres; it was hoped that once the Household Waste and Recycling Sites operated a normal service, improvements would be realised.  CCTV cameras would be installed and officers deployed to monitor problematic sites.  13 bring sites would be closed from March onwards.

Wealden District Council: Collection performance had improved with low levels of missed bins.  Biffa had made a concerted effort to recover missed collections at the earliest opportunity to minimise disruption to customers.  Attention was required to ensure that missed assisted collections were maintained and bring site collections in the north of the District still required improvement.  Staff absence would continue to be monitored as Government restrictions were eased.  Progress had improved regarding container deliveries and street cleansing.  Insufficient standards were continuously being monitored.  Issues regarding roadside litter particularly in rural locations and on high speed roads were being addressed.  Fly-tip clearance remained good with the number of incidents reducing to a more normal level.  Clinical and bulky waste collection performance remained consistent.

Biffa continued to meet Key Performance Indicator (KPI) targets and was performing very well across all services.  Two KPIs had been revised as follows:

·         Missed collections had reduced to 96 per 100,000 (from 120).

·         Missed assisted collections had reduced to 9 per 100,000 (from 10).

Annual Service Improvement Plan actions and activities continued.

The Joint Waste Partnership (JWP) Manager advised that contract variations and reconciliation contract payments would be used to reconcile liability for costs incurred since May 2020.  The additional cost for each council would be reported at the next meeting.

The UK Environment Bill was still outstanding and guidance on when food waste should be implemented was still unclear.  The new legislation would have significant implications for the councils which would need to be considered together with other ambitions and objectives in due course.

The JWP Risk Register was maintained as a current document by the JWP Manager and was available to Members on request. The Joint Waste and Recycling Committee noted that four “amber” risks were actively being managed, namely COVID-19 related staff absence; COVID-19 related financial risk; UK Environment Bill; and Client Health and Safety compliance.  All risks would be monitored.

The Committee requested that the full list of KPIs and the JWP Risk Register be considered at the next meeting scheduled to be held on Friday 2 July 2021.

RESOLVED: That the:

1)    report be noted; and

2)    full list of Key Performance Indicators and the Joint Waste Partnership Risk Register be considered at the next meeting scheduled to be held on Friday 2 July 2021.