Agenda item

Report attached

The Joint Executive Committee received a report providing an update on the progress of the latest refresh of the South Tyne and Wear Waste Management Partnership Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy.

The Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy (JMWMS) was agreed by

each partner authority Cabinet in 2007.  It covers the management of municipal

waste for the period 2007–2027 and includes:

·         Waste collected from households

·         Recycling collections

·         Waste taken to recycling banks

·         Collections of bulky waste

·         Street sweepings

·         Collection of household clinical waste

·         Commercial/trade waste collected by the local authorities

·         Fly-tipped waste

·         Waste accepted at household waste recycling centres

It does not consider most industrial, commercial, construction, or demolition

wastes, which are generally managed by the private sector.

Whilst there is no statutory requirement for STWWMP to produce a JMWMS,

the Partnership considers the publication of a strategy as ‘best practice’ and

has committed to undertaking regular reviews, the first of which was published

in January 2013.

The JEC were advised that it is important that STWWMP can ensure that the partner authorities have a

relevant, top-level, waste management strategy available to them.  This will

support flexibility in service delivery whilst continuing to meet key aims and

aspirations.

However, the current JMWMS is now significantly out of date – largely because of the significant achievements successfully delivered by the partner authorities since its publication in 2013.  This includes:

·       The completion of the new residual waste processing and treatment infrastructure (including the construction of the STWWMP energy-from-waste facility) and service commencement of the 25-year residual waste treatment contract;

·       The development of complementary household kerbside recycling services across all three partner authorities, including the introduction of additional recyclable materials;

·       The introduction of a dedicated community education and engagement programme delivered by third sector environmental regeneration charity Groundwork North East & Cumbria from our new visitor and education centre at Campground;

·       The establishment of a joint partnership team to provide the Waste Disposal Authority functions on behalf of the partner authorities through the day-to-day contract management functions for the range of waste treatment and recycling contracts with external service providers; and

·       The development of close and effective working relationships at all levels with SUEZ, Groundwork North East & Cumbria, and other external recycling contractors.

The refreshed JMWMS structure previously agreed by the Joint Executive

Committee was initially intended to provide strategic direction for the period

2018-2022 but, for the reasons highlighted above, it has not been possible to

further progress the publication of the JMWMS. 

However, as the uncertainty across the waste sector is likely to continue for the

near future, to ensure that high-level guidance can be provided to support

decisions on future service delivery issues and inform short-to-medium term

budget planning cycles, it is important that further consideration is given to

reconsider the work previously undertaken based on the latest information

available and realign the five-year strategy refresh to cover the period 2021-

2025. 

The refreshed JMWMS has been designed to:

·       Be easy to understand, follow, and enable progress to be monitored.

·       Consider the context of partner authority waste services within the current financial climate and other restrictions on service delivery.

·       Be clear about the priorities and not commit partner authorities to deliver actions with unknown external outcomes and/or influences.

·       Be proportionate and realistic about issues that STWWMP can directly influence at different levels, e.g. nationally; within their own operational activities; and across other services within their own councils.

It is proposed that a fully designed final STWWMP JMWMS 2021-2025 is

presented for consideration by Joint Executive Committee on 12 March 2021

which, if agreed, will then be published online by each partner authority later in

the same month.