Agenda item

Presentation

A presentation was given to the Joint Executive Committee on National and Local Authority waste-related stories that have been in the media.

The Joint Executive was advised that, following his appointment as Prime Minister, Boris Johnson announced a cabinet reshuffle and that the former Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Theresa Villiers has been appointed as Environment Secretary, replacing Michael Gove who has become Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.

The Environmental Services Association said that the Prime Minister must be bold in implementing and where possible accelerating the proposals set out in the Resources and Waste Strategy, whilst the head of policy and communications at the Chartered Institute of Waste Management said that the CIWM welcomes Theresa Villiers and that the sector has actively engaged with recent government policy developments and is keen for the momentum to be maintained by the new Secretary of State.

The Joint Executive Committee were advised that research commissioned by waste management firm Veolia highlighted that the proposed tax on all plastic packaging with less than 30% recycled content could cost households 7p per week. The study found that one of the main reasons for not using recycled plastic is that virgin plastic costs less, with the price difference currently estimated to be around £500 per tonne. Therefore, the proposed tax would have to compensate for the price difference to make recycled plastic more competitive and calculated that the minimum tax level needed to make costs to industry similar would be £150 per tonne.

Veolia commented that using recycled content will enable an additional two million tonnes of packaging to be recycled in the UK, but there is not currently enough material recycled to feed this desire, and that the tax will support what the market demands, enable investment, and accelerate provision.

The Joint Executive Committee heard that previous government consultation had found that over 80% of people backed a ban on the distribution and sale of plastic straws, 90% a ban on drink stirrers and 89% ban on cotton buds.

However, a Channel 4 FactCheck investigation had found that in order to back up its plans to ban these materials, the government used statistics based on a lack of data and research on the issue – which means that their justification for the ban relies on unverified assumptions. The investigation found that whilst there is no denying that a ban on plastic straws is likely to reduce the number entering the sea, there are no firm ideas about how much the reduction will be and when compared to global levels of plastic in the sea, the amount of straws entering from the UK barely registers on the scale.

The Joint Committee were also advised that fast food giant McDonald’s is disposing of its new paper straws in the general waste, after it emerged that they were not recyclable with its current waste services provider. McDonald’s say they are working towards a solution and that sending the straws to energy recovery is a temporary measure.

The Joint Executive Committee were advised that an expert at De Montford University Leicester has successfully manufactured the first-of-its-kind prosthetic limb socket made from recycled plastic bottles, which could save healthcare providers millions and help tackle pollution at the same time. It was found that the plastic bottles could be ground down and the granulated material spun into polyester yarns, which are then heated up to form a solid, yet lightweight material that can be moulded into prosthetic limbs. The cost of producing a prosthetic socket in this way is just £10 compared to the current industry average of around £5,000 each.

The socket was trialled with two different patients in India, who were both really impressed, saying that it was lightweight and easy to walk with and allowed air to flow to the rest of the leg, which was essential for the hot Indian climate.

The Joint Executive Committee were also informed that paper recyclers have warned of a critical market situation with lower prices and volatilities in the waste paper market putting local authority collections and the whole paper recycling sector under strain.

Such concerns have led to North Warwickshire Council’s decision to move to a fully comingles recycling serve. The Council currently uses a 55-litre inner caddy which ensure paper and card are collected separately to the remaining dry mixed recycling. But from 1 November 2019, the caddy will be removed, and all recyclable materials will be collected as a mixed load using the existing 240-litre wheeled bins. This could save the council around £75,000 per annum by reducing the time it takes for crews to complete collection rounds, and future savings in vehicle procurement and replacement caddy costs.

A council report highlights that the value of recovered mixed paper when the twin stream system was first introduced in 2013 was around £55 per tonne, which increased to around £75 per tonnes in 2016 but this had now dropped to approximately £18 per tonne.

The Joint Executive Committee were advised that research by the North London Waste Authority has found that there is ‘widespread confusion’, about correct nappy disposal and that 1 in 10 parents admit throwing soiled nappies in the recycling bin.

Of those parents who placed discarded nappies within the recycling, more than a third said that it was because the packaging shows the recycling logo. NLWA are now calling on manufacturers to make it clearer on pack and through their marketing communications that nappies must go in the general waste bin. It is hoped that this publicity will encourage everyone to dispose of every nappy in the general waste.

The Joint Executive Committee were advised that a cabinet member from Milton Keynes Council has suggested that an independent enquiry into how recycling sacks were found in the Malaysian jungle had looked deep into the council’s supply chain and how the Environment Agency enforced its rules and revealed that they could not have come from the council’s system.

Previously, the council had said that most likely cause of the recycling sacks ending up in Malaysia was down to ‘misuse’, because millions of recycling sacks were issued each year, but far fewer were actually used for household recycling and that the Council had now introduced an online ordering system to combat the issue.