The report of the Interim Strategic Director, Place, (Document “B”) provides a summary of the Service’s response to date with regards to the additional demands and operational difficulties encountered due to the Covid19 pandemic and its effects within Bradford West and the wider District.

Members are asked to consider Document “B” and the obstacles that Waste Services have had to overcome to maintain this essential operation. Any recommendations to further aid with service provision are welcome.

(Richard Galthen – 01274 431217)

The report of the Interim Strategic Director, Place, (Document “B”) provided a summary of the Service’s response to date with regards to the additional demands and operational difficulties encountered due to the Covid19 pandemic and its effects within Bradford West and the wider District.

The Contact and Procurement Manager and gave a synopsis of the report to the Committee. The authority had disposed in the region of 20,000 tonnes of waste which was a mixture of domestic waste and trade recycling. Out of this, 9.5 thousand tonnes were domestic waste in addition to 1.5 thousand being recyclable waste. As a whole, it was fairly spread out across the whole city and not limited to one area. The service used a routing software for the purposes of organising the collection of waste. The software assisted the service to assist officers to make collection services as efficient as possible. In regards to present standing, the service was only missing around a 0.1% of collection targets. The reasons for this percentage was due to unforeseen obstacles such as parked vehicles preventing access to homes and so on. In order to tackle lack of access sites, the service had staff working on such circumstances or the collection vehicles would try to return to the sites as quickly as possible. The main issues arising from all wards is recycling contamination as mentioned above. Contamination as a whole currently costs the Council approx. £260k per month in processing and disposal costs as a direct result of material not being cleaned or placed in the correct bin. Bradford West accounts for approx. £43k of this monthly cost based on the tonnages above. To reduce this cost, the Council have restarted working with residents and business to lower contamination levels. Load inspections have also resulted in full loads being disposed of if they are visibly highly contaminated. This information is logged internally and then provided to the Recycling Advisors who then visit the relevant area. This has led to a marked improvement in many areas including Manningham in particular so it is clear that residents and the Council are working together for a better outcome. Currently a “no side waste” policy is also enforced (no bags next to the bin).  The address is noted down and enforcement letters are posted to the resident.  This doesn’t always work well as residents stop for a while and then and starts placing side waste out again once the enforcement timeframe expires. It can also be difficult to enforce against landlords and transient residents.

He further stated that in relation to collection services during present circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic, multiple issues had affected operations as a result critical issues of contamination had arisen. This was due to lack of curb side access, resulting in repeat visits. At present, the service was averaging around 3.5 thousand resident visits per day and, whilst adhering to the governments recommendations on social distancing, additional vehicles had been hired so that social distancing was applied by collection crews.

A question and answer session ensued:

·         What action was being undertaken with residents to address the issue of missed bin collections due to lack of access due to vehicle obstructions as such obstructions would be detrimental to emergency services during times of family crisis?

o   The service was addressing such concerns by educating communities on service deliveries that involved communities as a whole as such obstructions could possibly cause detrimental impacts on a wide range of services as opposed to only collection of waste services;

§  In response, the committee touched on the matter on whether enforcement could be taken into consideration.

·         Was it possible to create new working group, the makeup of the group being community members (residents), elected members, wardens and officers was set up that could focus on looking into a wide range of collection service issues could possibly assist the service in identifying the main areas of concerns?

o   This was a viable proposal and could be looked into;

§  In response, the committee stated that there were many effective working subgroups within wards facilitating other subject areas of concerns and maybe this was a way forward for Waste Services.

·         In relation to contamination, most households were conscious of the status of waste and it could possibly be the fact that they may be guilty of leaving such waste on the streets for the council to pick up.  How was this area of concern being addressed?

o   At present, the service was trying to educate and enforce however this was an area in need of improvement;

·         In relation to Cranbrook Street which was very narrow, there was heavy presence and obstruction of vehicles and therefore was it possible to mail out some form of letter to the residents’?

o   This proposal would be addressed by the service.

The committee stated that it was important to encourage communities on the importance of waste collection services; due to Covid, many families were at home and remaining indoors, hence the increase of waste due to the increase groceries.

Resolved –

(1)       That the Bradford West Area Co-ordinator facilitates a working             group of elected Members of the Bradford West Area Committee,     officers from the Bradford West Area Co-ordinators Office and       Waste Services be formed to investigate responses to the issues             highlighted in the report specifically related to side waste and other operational activities.

(2)       That the Assistant Director, Waste, Fleet and Transport Services         be requested to personally attend the Bradford West Area     Committee in February 2021 and present a detailed update report      on how the operational activities of the sub-group are being             addressed.

ACTION:       Assistant Director, Waste, Fleet and Transport Services