This will be a verbal update.
Minutes:
The Health and Environmental Services Portfolio Holder provided an update on the Shared Waste Service and explained the background to the process of setting this service up:
· The committee was informed that there were 320 bin rounds undertaken over a two week period.
· The publicity campaign advertising the new bin rounds and new service ahead of its launch on 23 February 2017, had been successful.
· Following the launch of the new service, there had been issues with assisted bins. The reason for this had been an issue regarding the in-cab computer system. Any missed bins had been collected within the following 48 hours. Issues regarding flats in the city centre had occurred due to a lack of information regarding where bin keys were kept.
· The committee was informed that staffing issues had been the most significant issue with the new service with the merge of two services and two different cultures. An overview of the specific issues was given. This had been challenging and these issues were being addressed through Human Resources.
The local members for Sawston outlined problems that had been experienced with missed bins in their ward:
· Missed bins reported on the Tuesday before Easter had not been collected for a further week due to there being two consecutive bank holidays.
· Bins around Sawston had been regularly missed since the transfer to the new service with missed bins occurring on a weekly basis in some areas.
· Of particular concern was bin rounds not being completed at the end of shift, resulting in entire parts of streets being missed.
The Health and Environmental Services Portfolio Holder acknowledged the issues that had occurred in Sawston, informing the committee that on 13th March 2017, five streets had been missed and on Monday 27th March 2017, one street had been missed. These had been the two most significant occurrences of missed bins. The committee was informed that full and frank discussions had occurred with bin crews following this.
The committee was informed that the current issue was with individual properties that were being missed repeatedly and this was being addressed. The committee was also informed that bin lorries had CCTV so it was possible to see if bins that had been reported as missed, had been left out by residents. Due to the CCTV footage, it was known that some missed bins had been reported where bins had not actually been left out by residents.
The Portfolio Holder acknowledged that there were still issues with the service which were being addressed, however pointed out collection rates were consistently in the high 90%. Despite this, the Portfolio Holder acknowledged that some residents, particularly in Sawston had not had the best level of service provided to them. The committee advised that the Council write to these residents.
The committee was informed that the cost resulting from the issues that had occurred following the merge of the waste services, had not outweighed the savings. It was hoped that the remaining issues with the service would be resolved within the next three to four months.
The Scrutiny and Overview Committee requested a further update on the shared waste service at its meeting in September 2017. The Health and Environmental Services Portfolio Holder agreed to this and requested some guidance from the committee as to what it would like to be included in the update.