The Environmental Services Manager introduced the report which set out the first Swale Borough Council (SBC) mid-year waste collection and street cleansing report since the annual report was presented to the committee in June 2025.

The Chair invited Members to make comments and ask questions, and these included:

·         Some roads were still being missed, despite numerous calls to the Council;

·         the waste contract would always have individual situations of failure, but these were being resolved quicker;

·         Members were key in asking for some social value inputs and it was good to see them coming forward now;

·         considered more work needed to be done by contractors placing empty bins back to where they were collected from;

·         acknowledged that the recycling message was getting through, but some residents still needed information on what they could put in each bin;

·         tetra packs were a recycling issue;

·         flyposting and weeds needed to be addressed by the street cleansing teams;

·         more deep cleans were needed;

·         considered the contractor needed to ‘up their game’ on street cleansing after 18 months working with the Council;

·         the waiting period for bulky waste was too long, which often resulted in fly tipping;

·         this was a really helpful report;

·         figure 5 at paragraph 2.27 illustrated the problem of contamination;

·         it needed to be made clearer the impact on contamination on the environment to try and deter people from putting the wrong rubbish in bins;

·         surprised by the 72% figure of waste food which could have been avoided;

·         people not clearing up their dog’s mess was a real issue;

·         clarification sought on assisted collections as these were very important to those who needed them and it would be good to get some data on failed collections in the next report;

·         food waste had improved, but there was still a long way to go, the Council needed to do more to help residents with this;

·         concerned, with reference to paragraph 2.35 that road cleansing scheduling had not already been completed, considered it would have been done earlier in the contract;

·         Ward Members would like to be made aware of the autumn leafing plan and the areas of focus;

·         clarification sought as to whether communal properties would receive food caddies;

·         suggested more be done to educate young children at school on recycling; and

·         data to show people the benefits of fuel generation from food waste would be good.

Officers responded to some of the comments:  the Council continued to focus on contamination issues; Tetra packs were being looked into on a national level, they were not easily recyclable, and the industry needed to get behind this; the road cleansing had been scheduled from the start, but was always being updated and improvements with IT systems were being looked into in terms of street cleansing to make it easier to measure performance; regular offenders were being contacted and re-educated on what went in each bin; a more detailed communications plan was being developed; there were limited resources to deal with fly posting; packaged food was being deposited in general waste; assisted collections data could be added to future reports; communal properties would have food bins by the end of March 2026 and residents would receive food caddies; there had been a positive response to the recent sticker campaign and more food bins had been distributed; engagement with schools was taking place via the Suez environmental and social value campaigns officer; and recycling a ton of food waste was cheaper than incinerating it.  All comments made by Members would be investigated by officers.

Resolved:

(1)      That the contents of the performance update be noted.