Agenda item

The Chief Executive reported that the following six questions had been received under Standing Order 34 from Ms. J. Howard.

 

“Further to the questions we raised at the meeting of the Environment and Transport Scrutiny committee we were very pleased that both yourself and the Officers are passionate about recycling and emissions.  And we would thank you for your replies and target dates given.

Please can we therefore ask the following questions to further understand your targets on recycling, and with the answers we could try and improve recycling together, as it is a matter for all of us to be aware and change our habits.  Some of the additional questions are based on the Channel 4 programme on March 8^th entitled ‘The Dirty Truth about your Rubbish’ details of which were forwarded to you.  Others are further questions on your targets.

 

1.         You have stated that the recycling figure you have reached is 45% and you have not yet reached your 50% target.  Please can you confirm if this 45% figure is what is collected by the collecting authorities or is the figure that is actually sent for recycling within the County.”

 

Response by the Chairman:

 

“The 45% figure is based on former National Indicator 192, defined as the percentage of household waste sent for reuse, composting or recycling. This incorporates material collected by district councils at the kerbside and material delivered by residents to one of LCC’s Recycling and Household Waste Sites.

This figure is calculated through the national WasteDataFlow system. Information on how NI192 is calculated can be found at  https://www.wastedataflow.org/documents/guidancenotes/NationalIndicators/GN31_Handbook_Definitions_1.0.pdf and https://www.wastedataflow.org/documents/guidancenotes/NationalIndicators/GN30a_BVPI_and_NI_comparator_calculations_Qu100.pdf”

 

2.         “What percentage of recycling collected is rejected and sent to landfill or incineration as it is contaminated.”

 

Response by the Chairman

 

“During the 2020/21 financial year, just over 10% of the total tonnage of kerbside collected recycling was contaminated.”

 

3.         “What audits are taken on black bag waste to determine any percentage figure of recyclable products that are contained in the waste.  If these figures are not available, please can consideration be given to producing them so that improvements can be made.  This will dramatically help ambient air quality from air polluting emissions from plastics in the incineration process.”

 

Response by the Chairman

 

“Audits of black bag waste are undertaken on an ad-hoc basis. The last audit took place in autumn 2018.”

 

4.         “In reply to question 4, 5, In particular you state:

 

Emissions from the disposal of municipal waste are classified as Scope 3 (Other indirect emissions) i.e. emissions that are a consequence of an organisation’s actions but which occur at sources which they do not own or control under HM Government’s Environmental Reporting Guidelines (March 2019) for voluntary greenhouse gas reporting.  The inclusion of these emissions is optional, please see previous answer with regard to changes in the scope of the council’s greenhouse gas emissions report.

 

If these reporting requirements are optional we would enquire why you would not wish to include them into your net carbon emission targets as they are part of the County’s carbon footprint. As you know Wales is setting a very good example and targeting to be a Zero Waste country by 2050. 

 

https://gov.wales/sites/default/files/publications/2021-03/beyond-recycling-strategy-document.pdf

Zero waste is where all waste that is produced is re-used or recycled as a resource without the need for any landfill or energy recovery.”

 

Response by the Chairman

 

“Municipal waste is not included in the Council’s own greenhouse gas reporting. The Council use the BEIS data to monitor the emissions for Leicestershire, which includes reference to waste related emissions. See https://data.gov.uk/dataset/723c243d-2f1a-4d27-8b61-cdb93e5b10ff/uk-local-authority-and-regional-carbon-dioxide-emissions-national-statistics-2005-to-2019  for more details.”

 

5.         “Please will you include us in your email list for committee papers in the future, and in particular we are very interested in the target for spring 2022 for the Leicestershire Municipal Waste Management Strategy setting out how the County intends to manage municipal waste within the County to 2050, including your technology neutral position, R1 status for incinerators, and recycling etc.

 

6.         Regarding your policy on Carbon Capture, we are interested in your target for the end of 2021 to complete your work. Again please can you forward the relevant paper.”

 

Response by the Chairman

 

“You can sign up for email alerts about newly published agendas, reports and minutes of council meetings using the link here:- https://politics.leics.gov.uk/mgRegisterKeywordInterest.aspx?bcr=1. Once registered, you can choose which committees or electoral divisions you are interested in, you will then receive an email linking all the relevant items published that day.”

 

Supplementary Questions

The supplementary questions to questions 1, 3, 4 and 5 set out below were submitted by Ms Howard. The Chairman agreed to provide a written answer to these questions following the meeting.

“1. What percentage of the 45% of recycled waste collected is suitable and sent for actual recycling companies. Statistically this figure will be lower.

 

3.What percentage in the black bin waste audit was found to be recyclable in the audit. And what is being done about this.  How are the public educated in this respect as different boroughs have different policies? 

 

4. Can the council consider including these emissions from municipal waste in its policy

 

5. We are particularly interested in what measures the council have to ensure that it is not exposed to illegal processes in the disposal of the county’s residual waste in its waste management policy bearing in mind recent fines levied on operators.”