Issue - meetings

To seek authority to consult on the terms of the proposed payment model to be used in the development of a Waste Tipping Away Policy by the Council. 

Having considered all of the information, including known proposals, alternative options and reasons for the recommendations, Cabinet noted the report and

RESOLVED to:

1.    Authorise the Head of the Joint Waste Management to conduct a consultation exercise with the District, Borough and City Councils within Gloucestershire as to the:

(a)  Adoption of the NAWDO model as the financial mechanism for the calculation of Tipping Away payments under s52(10) Environmental Protection Act 1990 (EPA);

(b)  Operational issues and any other relevant considerations which should be taken into account in the development of a Tipping Away Policy.

2.    Require the Head of the Joint Waste Management to report back to Cabinet with the results of and recommendations arising from the consultation authorised under Recommendation 1.

Cllr Nigel Moor, Cabinet Member for Environment and Planning, outlined the options for the transportation of waste collected by the Gloucestershire Waste Collection Authorities (WCA’s) to the final point of disposal operated by the County Council as Waste Disposal Authority (WDA)  .

The options included: -

1)    The provision of either a disposal point or a bulking and transfer facility by the County Council within a waste collection area for the use of the local Waste Collection Authority, or

2)    Requiring the WCA to transport waste outside its collection area, and where this is judged to be unreasonably far, a reasonable contribution to the cost of this to be made by the County Council to the WCA. This process is known as ‘Tipping Away’.

Cllr Moor explained that, in the event of option 2, although the Environmental Protection Act 1990 defined the responsibilities of both the WDA and the WCA, it did not specify the limits of what was considered reasonable in terms of distances travelled and levels of contributions made.

In addressing this aspect, many WDAs had formalised their approaches to how this might be achieved by the adoption of a ‘tipping away policy’ to set out the method or calculation used in determining a reasonable tipping away payment. Such policies to take into account local circumstances and provide clarity to those parties involved in the planning of budgets and haulage logistics.

Cllr Moor stated that, although residual waste tipping away payments had been made to Stroud District Council for some time, Gloucestershire County Council did not currently have an adopted policy in place with which to inform future waste transportation arrangements. He added that, such a policy would be useful for all waste streams, including food waste, garden waste and residual waste where treatment locations may change in future.

Cllr Moor stressed the importance of the decision before referring to a meeting of the Gloucestershire Joint Waste Committee held the day before, on 9 October 2018, where it had been agreed to undertake a 6 week consultation with the Gloucestershire WCAs on the development and adoption of a tipping away policy where there was a requirement for the WCAs to deliver waste to locations outside of their collection areas.

Having considered all of the information, including known proposals, alternative options and reasons for the recommendations, Cabinet noted the report and

RESOLVED to:

1.    Authorise the Head of the Joint Waste Management to conduct a consultation exercise with the District, Borough and City Councils within Gloucestershire as to the:

(a)  Adoption of the NAWDO model as the financial mechanism for the calculation of Tipping Away payments under s52(10) Environmental Protection Act 1990 (EPA);

(b)  Operational issues and any other relevant considerations which should be taken into account in the development of a Tipping Away Policy.

2.    Require the Head of the Joint Waste Management to report back to Cabinet with the results of and recommendations arising from the consultation authorised under Recommendation 1.