Decision details

The Community Services Portfolio Holder presented the report to Members.

She advised Members that since the September meeting the Council had been served the Direction from the County Council and that Cabinet was being asked to agree to further work being carried out by officers on the use of the contingency sum that they had agreed in September and prepare options on the future recycling collections policy that would be reported back to Cabinet at a later date.

Following questions from Member, The Director of Services advised Members that whilst the District Council was the collecting authority there was no statutory obligation to collect green waste separately to other waste.  He added that under the current arrangements, the District Council collects the green waste separately which means the waste is recycled and not disposed of via landfill and therefore creates a saving for the County Council as disposal authority as it does not incur landfill tax charges.  These savings are then currently shared with the District Council as recycling credits and it is these credit payments that the County Council proposes to withdraw. He stated that a further report would be brought to Cabinet detailing the future options for the District.

It was moved by Councillor A V Smith, seconded by Councillor R D Bayliss and

RESOLVED THAT:

Cabinet:

1.    Notes the Green Waste Direction served on the Council by Leicestershire County Council on 21 November 2014;

2.    Agrees the officers should do further work on this matter and report back to Cabinet once this has been done, which will include recommendations as to the use of the £300,000 contingency sum in the Medium Term Financial Strategy which was previously set aside to mitigate the loss of green waste recycling credits in 2015/16;

3.    Notes that officers will also prepare an options report for Cabinet on the future Recycling Collections Policy taking into account the financial implications of Leicestershire County Council’s future intentions for recycling credits.

Reason for decision: For Cabinet to note the potential financial impact of the withdrawal of recycling credits from 15/16 onwards.