Agenda item

Presented by Karen Agbabiaka, Director of Streets & Environment.

The Chair introduced the item and invited the Director of Streets & Environment to address the Panel.

The Director of Streets & Environment conducted a presentation to the Panel, which can be found via the following link: https://civico.net/croydon/meetings

In response to questions from Panel members, officers informed the Panel that:

• The Council offered a bulky waste collection service that was chargeable to residents and for residents who lived in tenancy properties there was a bulky waste clearance service. Residents needed to leave any waste which they wished to be collected in a location that was accessible for the cleanup crew.
• Officers were in dialogue with bidders to find a more sustainable solution that reflected the needs of the Councils communal and curb-side properties.
• The food waste service was on offer to all tenants, officers needed to work with the managing agents to ensure that the aspirations of the residents were met.
• Croydon was in the top quartile in London for the highest recycling rates.
• Under legislation it was now mandatory to organise weekly segregated food waste collections for all residents.
• Officers would identify which housing estates could accommodate additional bins and officers would liaise with their service providers to ensure that weekly collections were undertaken as part of the core service.
• Officers were aware of all the food waste collections from the communal and curb side properties.
• 23% of Corydon’s general waste contained food.
• Residents were required to present their textiles alongside their waste collection. The refuse crew had a cage where the textile bags could be deposited.
• If the textile collection was missed, then an ad-hoc collection would need to be arranged.
• If the cage for textile collections was full then the collection crew would call their supervisor who would then empty the cage so that the operatives could continue to collect.
• The cages containing the textiles collection were emptied daily.
• The fly tipping strategy was under review as it was currently was reactive service.
• Officers felt as though they had been a victim of their own success in the past as the quicker that they removed fly tips, the quicker they would re-appear. The fly tipping consisted of discarded domestic waste and contractors had been instructed to clear all fly tips as they were reported, however, the volume of fly tipping had increased. This was a national issue that needed to be addressed as the Council spent around £100,000+ a month to clear fly tips.
• Prior to entering their current procurement strategy, officers undertook a borough wide consultation with residents through online surveys and resident drop-in sessions and officers received over 3000 responses back on their waste and street cleansing service. This was done prior to officers finalising their procurement strategy.
• Officers would make a recommendation to cabinet on whether to award a contract to the preferred bidder.
• Needles for self-administered injections needed to be collected by the Council, this was free service for residents. If the medication was administered by a third party, then it would be their responsibility to dispose of the waste.
• Officers acknowledged that missed collections had a significant impact on households and informed the Panel that they now had a fully resourced client services team.
• If a resident had a missed collection, they had 48 hours after the day of collection to report the missed bin collection. The client services team would review the statistical data to look for a trend in the reported missed collections.
• For disputes with the waste collection crew regarding the accuracy of reported collections, the service provider was required to provide an assured collection for 6 to 8 weeks. An assured collection required the service provider to confirm on their devices that for every collection, this meant that the collection crew would only be miss a collection if the bins were not presented or contaminated. This would be logged onto the system and their supervisor would then inspect and attend on the day.