Agenda item

Report attached.

The Cabinet considered a report of Councillor Steven Smithson, Deputy Leader of the Council and Portfolio Holder for Environmental Services, about the effect that new regulations relating to the collection of bulky waste items containing persistent organic pollutants (POPs) were having on the Council’s ability to collect bulky waste items.

Councillor Smithson outlined the main elements of the report.

Councillor Munsif Dad BEM JP noted the intention to report back on the new arrangements, but expressed concern that the next scheduled Cabinet meeting was not until September 2023.  The Leader advised that the next meeting would take place in July, but that the original date was in the process of being rearranged towards the end of the month.  Councillor Dad observed that the legislation had been in effect from 1^st January 2023 and queried why the arrangements had taken some six months to set up.  Councillor Smithson responded that the legislation had been implemented at very short notice and the service had tried to maintain a good level of service without the need to reorganise.  However, over time it had become apparent that a backlog was building up.  The Council would now look at the best way forward while keeping costs to a minimum.  Councillor Dad asked how any additional costs would be met.  Councillor Smithson indicated that the follow up report to Cabinet would address that matter.

Approval of the report was not deemed a key decision.

Reasons for Decision

Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) remained intact in the environment for long periods, and if not disposed of properly would become widely distributed geographically.  They accumulated in the fatty tissue of humans and wildlife and had harmful impacts on human health and on the environment.

The Environment Agency had undertaken an investigation and confirmed the widespread presence of very large quantities of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) and other hazardous chemicals in both the textiles and foam of waste upholstered domestic seating. These chemicals were used as flame retardants and were now banned.

New legislation from the Environment Agency had come into effect on 1 January 2023 and this legislation no longer permitted POPs waste to be sent to landfill, which was to prevent lasting environmental harm and impacts on the food chain.  This meant waste containing POPs would have to be incinerated and must not be re-used, recycled, or landfilled.

Waste upholstered domestic seating was defined as any item of upholstered seating of a household type from households or businesses that was waste. For example sofas, sofa beds, armchairs, kitchen and dining room chairs, stools and foot stools, home office chairs, futons, bean bags, floor and sofa cushions.  Upholstery included any foam and fabric, for example textiles, leathers and synthetic leathers.

In December 2022 as a consequence of the Environment Agency legislation, Lancashire County Council as waste disposal authority in Lancashire had informed the Council (as collection authority in Lancashire) that as from 1 January 2023 bulky waste items containing POPs would have to be collected separately to all other bulky waste items and could no longer be taken to Whinney Hill tip.  POPs items would have to be taken directly to a waste transfer facility in Darwen.

Previously the Council had collected two types of bulky waste items, those being recyclable (such as fridges, timber, matrasses) and non-recyclable (such as sofas or carpets) via two collection rounds. The collection of most non-recyclable bulky waste would be collected on bin day via a refuse collection vehicle collecting domestic residual waste (grey bin) and a separate round collecting recyclable bulky items.

The introduction of this new legislation (with less than a month’s notice) had meant that waste services had been required to collect POPs items by sharing resources allocated to the recyclable bulky items waste round (as POPS items had to be segregated from other waste streams) and to take this waste directly to a waste transfer facility in Darwen.

Having to split the round and segregate an additional waste stream had led to a backlog in relation to the collection of bulky waste items (both POPs and recyclable bulky waste items) which was unsustainable.

The portfolio holder would work with officers to establish a new way of working to reduce the back log and improve waiting times in relation to the collection of bulky waste items

Waste officers throughout the UK had held numerous discussions with colleagues from the Environment Agency to seek a delay to the implementation of the new legislation, and to seek clarification as to whether local authorities could collect POPs and non-POPs items together or collect POPs items, store overnight and tip off the following day to facilitate more collections.  However none of these proposals had been acceptable to the Environment Agency.

Alternative Options considered and Reasons for Rejection

One option was to do nothing.  Officers did not recommend that this approach was taken as the waiting times for the collection of bulky waste items were too long currently, which was creating a back log, and this was unsustainable in the long term.

Resolved                                 (1)   That Cabinet note the report.

(2)   That the portfolio holder work with officers to assess the situation and bring a report back to Cabinet with proposals as to how to deal with this issue.