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 Achieved 25% recycling rate in the year 2000 MINUTES |
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Achieved 25% recycling rate in the year 2000 MINUTES |
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17 SEPTEMBER 2003 PROJECT INTEGRA - POLICY REVIEW SCRUTINY COMMITTEE Minutes of a meeting of Project Integra Policy Review and Scrutiny Committee held at Dibden Golf Club, near Hythe on Wednesday 17 September 2003.PRESENT Councillors:- Alan Marsh (Chairman) - Test Valley Borough Council Tony Jones - Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council Judy Onslow - East Hampshire District Council Doreen Welfare - Eastleigh Borough Council Brian Bayford - Fareham Borough Council John Train - Gosport Borough Council Ian Beagley - Hampshire County Council Ralph Cousins - Havant Borough Council Brenda Smith - New Forest District Council Colin Balchin - Rushmoor Borough Council Richard Williams - Southampton City Council Graham Hutton - Winchester City Council
Mr John Singer - Hampshire Waste Services
In Attendance:- Councillor David Clegg - East Hampshire District Council
Officers:- Bob Brooks - Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council David Burton - Eastleigh Borough Council Angela West - Gosport Borough Council Adrian Lee - Hampshire County Council George Davis - Havant Borough Council Roger Sired - New Forest District Council Ashley Chaplin - Portsmouth City Council Julie Hibbert - Rushmoor Borough Council Adrian Richardson - Southampton City Council Phil Easton - Test Valley Borough Council
Steve Read - Executive Officer, Project Integra Andy Winter - Meetings Officer, Project Integra
Alan Read Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council Peter Langdon Gosport Borough Council John Collis Hampshire Waste Services Norman Lambert Hart District Council Steve Shepherd New Forest District Council Les Stevens Portsmouth City Council The Chairman welcomed everyone and introduced Mrs Andy Winter, the newly appointed Meetings Officer. The Chairman announced that the Project Integra partnership with Midland Glass had been shortlisted for the Best Partnership Project for Recycling category at the National Recycling Awards ceremony to be held in Telford on 15 October 2003. If any Members wanted to attend they should let the Executive Officer’s office know. A short video was currently being made at the request of the organisers.
There were none. The minutes of the last meeting held on 18 June 2003 were accepted and signed by the Chairman as a true and accurate record of the proceedings. Annual Business Plan 2004/2005 The Executive Officer presented project proposals for the 2004/05 Annual Business Plan and took questions as they arose:- Members were generally supportive and asked if there was money available for all projects in the Annual Business Plan. The Executive Officer explained that £150,000 had been set aside therefore all minor projects could be done within this sum but bigger projects may need separate funding. Mobile Shredder – The Executive Officer clarified that the waste collected during the trial would not count towards targets. Some Authorities already collect garden waste. It was suggested that the Mobile Shredder idea could be "outsourced" to a private contractor, rather than Project Integra. The Chairman agreed with the suggestion that Project Integra should be a facilitator for community projects and said it should be seen to be taking the lead. Some Members did not feel this was a priority. Litter Bins – A good example could be found in Northern Ireland and it was suggested that Project Integra should contact Belfast and pass on the information to other Local Authorities as a policy guide. Some Authorities already have this idea as a priority. Pilot WEEE Kerbside – The Executive Officer reminded the meeting that there would be a presentation on WEEE after lunch and suggested waiting for comments until then. Alternative Fuels – The Executive Officer referred to his paper on Graz, Austria circulated in July 2003. The City’s bus fleet had been converted to run on bio-diesel from used vegetable oil. Members also suggested looking at the possibility of using Natural Gas for buses as there was a commercial market for this. A closed loop recycling scheme had recently been on television which was good publicity, showing the freighters being fuelled by the waste they collected. John Collis said he was willing to look into a similar scheme. Plastics –The Materials Marketing Group had identified this as their top priority. Midland Glass were also interested in the market and dialogue with the company was ongoing and there had been positive signs from Midland Glass. Members asked whether all types of plastic can be re-used. The Executive Officer advised that markets existed in the far east but the quality and sustainability of this route was questionable, therefore a local solution was being sought. Members said that recycling plastics was important to the public as there were always a lot of queries about it. For example, there are firms needing plastics for reprocessing but the problem is that plastic containers are marked as recyclable and not all types can be used. John Singer advised that there were operational issues in recycling plastics that needed to be considered. Community Engagement Team + Workforce Education + Community Recycling Projects – Adrian Lee would speak about this later on the agenda. Members thought that facts such as the cost of £700 per rejected load need to be made clear to the public. It was also felt that some Councils may have been poor at giving information or educating the public. It was suggested that a video be made to promote recycling which could be used by all the partner authorities. Community Engagement Teams should not just be talking but getting "out there" to promote good practice. The Executive Officer said a Recycling Toolkit was already available for individual partners to use. The concept for a Community Engagement Team was based on experience at East Hampshire District Council who had an 11 person team which had been very successful. Good quality material was collected and there was intensive engagement for one year. It was proposed that the team would be available for four projects a year. Waste by Water – Members commented that although Waste by Water may sometimes be operationally difficult it was already being done in some areas to make use of waterways. The Executive Officer said that the Waste Management & Recycling Fund was available and Members were made aware that DFT and Dti funding for sustainability could be sought for this, not just from DEFRA. Taking waste paper to Deeside by water and the Shotton Paper Bank contract was being looked into. John Singer confirmed that this was already being discussed. The Chairman asked John Collis to give a presentation about alternatives to road transport to the next meeting. Cllr Williams volunteered to pursue various other methods of funding and report back. Implement Brand Review – It was agreed to deal with this item later under item 8 on the agenda. Waste Minimisation Group – The Waste Minimisation Group, which is Chaired by Bob Lisney, is working on a research proposal to investigate waste growth, links with economic growth and lifestyle changes. The aim is to try and predict future growth patterns and thereby intervene in the process chain including production of the goods, marketing and optimise management of resources used and generated. There were significant savings to the overall waste management budget if waste growth can be checked or reversed. £15K has already been allocated this year and next year for this project and it was hoped to attract external funding from WRAP and other sources. This was a global issue and although some Members expressed concerns about social engineering, it was agreed that this was an issue that Project Integra should pursue in collaboration with others. MRS – The Executive Officer said this would be launched next week at St Mary’s Stadium, Southampton and hoped councillors would attend. Papers had already been circulated. He said that the Strategy was unique in the UK and would give direction. The Executive Officer said he hoped everyone would support the Strategy as it was important for setting out future direction. The Chairman said Project Integra partners needed to be participating and influencing. EO Appointment – Provision had been made in the current year’s budget for the appointment process. This would be carried forward to 2004/5. Minor Project Fund – The Executive Officer explained that this fund could be used for projects which cropped up during the year. Examples were the Intech display, the video for the LARAC awards. Predictive Model – The Executive Officer said that this was a Hampshire County Council project. There was a good case for a computer model that not only tracks waste movements but could also evaluate possible options. Adrian Lee and Steve Read had looked at other off-the-shelf systems but the County would probably develop and enhance the current system instead. Adrian Lee said no funding had been asked for yet and if it was needed a further report would be brought to the meeting. Members suggested that the amount be deleted but the item be kept on the Business Plan. Another suggestion was to use the University’s Environmental Science/Computer Applied Science one year MSc course for the development as this would benefit educational establishments locally rather than using a software company. Adrian Lee said the data and financial model were already being used. The Chairman said he thought it best to build on what we already have and Adrian Lee was asked to take this on as a project. John Singer said it was crucial that the HWS computer systems linked to Hampshire CC’s. The Chairman asked Adrian Lee and John Singer to report back on progress. Pilot Anaerobic Digestion – Adrian Lee reported that a partnership bid to the Carbon Trust had previously been made. £1m had been applied for but match funding was needed. He said that new sources of funding were being sought. Members advised that Dti money may be available and that Stephen Tims (the Energy Minister) would be visiting Southampton CC for a meeting in November when this issue could be brought to his attention. The Chairman asked that Hampshire CC and Southampton CC collaborate on this. Schools Recycling – The Executive Officer suggested building on work already being done in the County to support school schemes. Members suggested recycling should be promoted throughout school life to through to university. Members reported that Hampshire CC already have a policy to promote recycling in schools. However, Members asked for clarification of the current position. A report would be brought to the next meeting. Waste Analysis –The Executive Officer said that in 1999 research data was collected but that this was now out of date. He suggested that Project Integra needed to have current data to track progress. He said that it would be possible to set up a facility to produce data with a "team" of one, the cost of which would be approximately £50,000. The EO suggested that this was a key project as waste analysis data was required to support projects such as the MRF input/output survey, the kerbside glass collection, green waste trials etc. Going to the private sector for one off projects was expensive (the MRF input output analysis had cost £25,000 for a valuable but fairly limited analysis. Whereas having our own team could mean a programme of support for other projects, more in depth analysis of contamination and ongoing trend analysis could be done cost effectively. There would also be the possibility of marketing the service to other authorities and recovering some costs. RESOLVED: that subject to the comments made today, all the above Annual Business Plan items be included for 2004/2005.
The Executive Officer said invitations had already gone out for the launch event to be held on 23 September 2003. The Chairman hoped everyone would attend and participate. Members suggested the discussion papers should be widely distributed. The Chairman agreed and said that everyone should be ambassadors for the strategy. Adrian Lee advised that everyone should register even if they were not attending the event so that they received all the information available. The Executive Officer gave a presentation outlining the revised scope of the review which would be presented to the next Board meeting. Members asked about how they could be involved in the process. The Executive Officer advised that there were several opportunities, including participation in the MRS workshops, and through internal consultation exercises including a SWOT analysis. It was suggested that Members may wish to be become more closely involved with the review team. The Chairman, Cllr Onslow, Cllr Hutton and Cllr Williams expressed interest in taking this up. The Executive Officer agreed to follow this up. RESOLVED: That Cllrs Marsh, Onslow and Hutton be involved in the Best Value Review and that others would be welcome to participate at any point. Cllr Williams agreed to act as informal consultant on funding. The Board would be asked to participate and the Executive Officer would circulate a report with the minutes.
Adrian Lee reported that the aim was to produce a five year marketing and communication strategy. He explained the importance of research and said a Group had been formed but had not met. The Chairman reported that Miller Associates had been a unanimous choice for consultants and proposed that the Board allocate £20,000 to match Hampshire County Council’s £15,000, as in the Business Plan. The Executive Officer said that the Strategy Officer Group had asked him to report its reservations about the Branding Review to the Board. The Executive Officer said he was very supportive of the review and thought it would be possible to do each section separately if necessary. He also said that the Best Value Review needed the Branding Review to gauge public opinion and suggested it would be good value. Members were concerned about spending on focus groups and public awareness of the Project Integra Brand and were worried that officers don’t agree with the review being done. The Executive Officer reported that the majority of officers (10 out of 12) didn’t agree with it. Members had concerns that Project Integra should not be selling itself and that people were not interested in Project Integra, only in their Local Authority. There was thought to be no benefit in an awareness campaign. The Chairman said that Project Integra had a good reputation "higher up", ie with Central Government and the academic world but was perhaps not familiar to the general public. The Chairman said the report may not have been clear and after some discussion said that the proper procedures had been followed but that the report needed to be refocused. Adrian Lee said the Branding Review aimed at taking things forward and would educate the public. He said there was a need to find out what methods of promotion/motivation would attract the public. Cllr Jones said he was all in favour of Project Integra but would only promote his own Local Authority. Cllr Smith asked if Project Integra was meant to be a type of seal of approval scheme with producers and consumers coming together. She suggested that Project Integra could be publicised as good to work with. The Chairman said that brand image was important and that local authorities promoting ideas on their own was not as effective as a partnership. The Executive Officer suggested that the quality seal of approval was a good idea and agreed that the power of Project Integra was as a collective force. RESOLVED: That the Branding Review report be referred back to officers for refocus in view of concerns expressed by Officers and Members. It was also unanimously agreed to keep the £20,000 in the Budget for Branding Review.
All AGREED. The Chairman thanked Adrian Lee for his report. Items For Information
The Executive Officer gave the quarterly update on performance for April-June 2003. He suggested that it would be useful to track trends graphically on the next report. The Chairman thanked the Executive Officer for his report and said he was pleased to see the volume of landfill going down. Members commented that good news like this should be made public and the Chairman said this was a task for the Communications Group.
Thursday 18 March 2003 at Winchester City Council Thursday 17 June 2004 at Basingstoke & Deane Borough Council Thursday 16 September 2004 at Eastleigh Borough Council Thursday 16 December 2004 at Fareham Borough Council The Chairman suggested that in view of some Members requesting to use the same venue for every meeting, that the issue be raised at the next meeting. The date of the next meeting would be Wednesday 10 December 2003 at Test Valley Borough Council. |
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