Agenda item
Resident Engagement - Household Recycling
Minutes:
The Chair informed the meeting that as part of
the review into household recycling , representatives of the Tenant
and Residents Associations (TRAs)had been invited to share their
experiences and challenges and suggest ways to improve resident
participation and importantly increase recycling rate.
In the discussion the following points were made-
·
Members were informed that although Tenant Resident Associations
and Tenant Management Organisations play a vital role in engaging
residents and raising issues such as residual waste and recycling
collection within housing blocks, there was still more work to be
done to increase resident participation.
·
In response to questions about the challenges experienced by TRAs,
a representative of the St Luke’s Estate TRA informed Members
that despite the good efforts of his TRA, a minority of residents
still refused to participate in any form of recycling and it was
noticeable on the estate there was still some low levels of fly
tipping.
·
TRA’s would welcome Council support in areas such as
residents being able to access recycling bags and properly labelled
bins in suitable locations on the estate to prevent contamination
issues.
·
Residents were concerned that the labelling was not clear enough
and suggested the provision of larger recycling bins to address
overflowing concerns. Other concerns raised included the untidiness
of communal bins and the communal areas. A suggestion that
replacing car parking bays with lumber storage facilities to
prevent fly tipping and dumping was noted.
·
Members were informed that although St Luke’s Resident and
Tenant Resident Associations could be described as active in areas
of facilitating recycling and levels of participation, only very
few residents were directly involved, which was not sustainable in
the long run. Members were advised that residents who actively
participate in recycling regularly complain about the indifference
of residents who, for example, leave items of clothing by the
concierge or on the ground floors raising safety
concerns.
·
In response to a suggestion on whether converting the use of chutes
from residual waste to recycling waste would improve recycling,
Members were advised that although it had worked on some estates,
concerns about blocked chutes and contamination could not be
disregarded.
·
A representative of the Westbourne TRA informed the meeting that
the Council needed to address the root causes rather than the
symptoms of recycling and advised that the Council’s
contractual arrangements may need to be reviewed as one of the
reasons for high contamination levels was residents are not
interested in separating the various items for recycling.
·
In response to a question on whether the Council would be able to
offer assistance to estates that performed well with kitchen waste
recycling, the Street Scene Strategy Manager informed the meeting
that bags of compost could be provided especially where there were
gardening groups.
·
Members were informed that accumulation of rubbish in any housing
estate if not addressed could easily descend into the realm of
anti-social behaviour and possibly illegal and criminal
activity.
·
In response to a suggestion on whether charging residents waste
collection like countries as Belgium and Germany could result in an
increase in recycling, the Street Scenes Strategy Manager advised
that the Council had a statutory duty to collect waste and although
the Council could not charge residents it could decide on the
frequency of collection times and the number of bags that it
provides residents.
·
A volunteer of the Loop project ( sponsored by Groundworks)
informed the meeting of her involvement in the Community driven
reuse and well-being programme on the Andover Estate and
highlighted some of the benefits to the local community such as
community cohesion, acquisition of craft skills by volunteers,
prevention of fly tipping and facilitating community
events.
·
Members were informed that Groundworks which runs the Loop project
would be bidding for about £10,000 to build on the success of
the Repurpose and develop a community driven reuse and well- being
project reaching out to even more people to build
participants’ confidence, develop skills and contribute
towards positive social, economic and well- being
outcomes.
·
In response to a question on future plans for the Loop project, the
volunteer advised Members that funds would be used towards raising
the awareness of the programme, engagement in informal educational
activities to highlight benefits of the reduce/reuse/recycle
agenda. In addition, the project would engage harder to reach
groups, such as older/isolated men, BAMER women and young people
not in education/employment training.
· The Executive Member for Environment & Transport acknowledged the importance of recycling but reiterated that in as much as the Council continues to encourage recycling rates, it supports the waste hierarchy with regards to waste collection, namely prevention, recycling and then reuse, and that it was important to encourage residents to change their behaviour to reduce waste.