Issue - meetings

The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Waste Partnership (RECAP) is 10 years old and has marked the occasion by launching a revised Waste Strategy to help meet future waste and environmental challenges up to 2022. The new strategy builds on the successes of the last decade which has seen recycling rates across the partnership soar to over 50%, with South Cambridgeshire reaching 53.21% in 2007/08.

The strategy was drawn up by SCDC waste professionals and their counterparts from councils in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, working closely with local communities and voluntary organisations. It aims to tackle the impacts of climate change and growth, through a variety of measures including building state of the art waste treatment facilities, promoting recycling, and reducing the amount of waste we produce by encouraging activities such as food waste reduction, re-use and home composting.

Waste reduction is seen as one of the most important weapons in the fight against climate change as it not only reduces waste going to landfill but also saves on the valuable resources and energy used in producing new products. As a measure of RECAP’s commitment to waste reduction, the strategy will not be printed on paper. It can be downloaded from the homepage of SCDC's website and the RECAP website at www.recap.co.uk.

Cabinet AGREED to adopt the RECAP Revised Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy as Council policy.

Cabinet delegated authority to the Environmental Services Portfolio Holder to set a more challenging target in the recycling of waste for this Council than that agreed with local authorities in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. 

Cabinet

AGREED        to adopt the RECAP Revised Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy as Council policy

Cabinet delegated authority to the Environmental Services Portfolio Holder to set a more challenging target in the recycling of waste for this Council than that agreed with local authorities in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.

Councillor SM Ellington, Environmental Services Portfolio Holder, presented this report which recommended that the Recycling in Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Waste Partnership (RECAP) Revised Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough be adopted as Council Policy. Discussion focussed on two main concerns.

Setting a challenging target

The Corporate Manager Health & Environmental Services confirmed that the County was already meeting the target of 45-50% recycling to be achieved by 2010/11. However, he advised that increasing the County’s recycling rate to 60% by 2020 would be a considerable challenge. It was noted that the Council would play a leading role in achieving these targets, being one of the top performing councils nationally in recycling. It was suggested that it would be useful to know the tonnage recycled as well as the percentage of waste being recycled, as an increase in waste could negate an increase in recycling. It was noted that an increase in home composting could actually lead to a decrease in the official recycling rate. It was understood that the Council could aim for a more challenging target, independently of the Countywide targets in the strategy under discussion.

Financial implications

It was noted that the cost of implementing the Strategy over the next 10 to 12 years was unknown and that any proposed increases in the budget would be dealt with through the Medium Term Financial Strategy.

Cabinet

AGREED        to adopt the RECAP Revised Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy as Council policy

Cabinet delegated authority to the Environmental Services Portfolio Holder to set a more challenging target in the recycling of waste for this Council than that contained in the Countywide strategy.