BDR Waste Partnership

1. Message from chairman to all CLG members

This is our now our third 'remote' meeting and as usual below are some written reports from Renewi, BDR, the Community Education Liaison Officer and Stratiji which bring us up to date with what's been happening. I look forward to the time when we can meet face to face in the normal way at the Visitor Centre, but am sure you will agree that at the moment it is safer to continue as we are. We will, of course, keep the situation under review. The Covis-19 pandemic has presented challenges across the board, but I would like to pay tribute to the refuse collectors and the teams behind them who have ensured that vital collections of household waste have continued throughout. Some other waste services were temporarily interrupted but it is good to see that things are getting back normal. As I say regularly, it is important that this group continues to function, even if it is in this remote way. So thank you for your time, please take care, and let Stratiji know if you have any issues or queries arising from these written updates.

2. Notes from last "remote" meeting on 8th June 2020

3. Issues arising

Please contact Stratiji if there are any issues arising.

4. 3SE update

The operations have continued to run normally through the Covid19 period. Several members of staff have been tested after showing potential symptoms with all returning negative results. All members of staff who were shielding since the start of lockdown have now returned to work. Household waste tonnages have started to reduce but still remain higher than usual for this time of year. A major fire broke out at Barnsley waste transfer station on 16th of August at 10.30pm. Emergency service were quickly on site to tackle the fire involving approximately 200 tonnes of unsorted waste. Burning material was removed from the building using the loading shovel and extinguished in the yard. The fire was fully extinguished by 3pm the following day. There were no injuries but 25 per cent of the building was damaged, including steel columns supporting the roof. Contingency plans were actioned to divert the waste to alternative disposal points with minimal impact on council services. The source of the fire remains unknown. It is anticipated the repair work will take three to four months. Fly and odour complaints have remained low throughout July and August and the Bolton Road facility has been inspected by the Environment Agency during this period. The Ferrybridge FM1 shutdown is scheduled to commence on 14th September for two weeks, reducing the intake capacity to 40 per cent. During this period the displaced tonnage will be diverted to FM2.

5. BDR update

The main focus of the BDR Team over the past few months has been Covid-19, flies and the Barnsley transfer station fire. There has been a general increase in waste arisings over the lockdown period for recycling and residual waste. Alongside this some of the councils have seen an increase in contamination, so the BDR Team are working with the CELO to determine how to improve quality of recyclates and advise residents on bin hygiene to reduce the number of flies/maggots in household waste at source. There are a number of consultations in relation to waste that have either been released or are due to be released. The consultation on the plastic packaging tax closed on the 20th August 2020.For further information please visit Plastic Packaging Tax: policy design - GOV.UK

A consultation on a revised draft Waste Management Plan for England (The Plan) is now underway. The Plan provides an analysis of the current waste management situation in England. It is mainly about the quantity of waste there is in England and how that waste is managed. The Plan sets out a summary of current policies, not new policies or announcements. It reflects the policies included in the Government’s Resources and Waste Strategy, published in 2018. For further information please visit Waste management plan for England - GOV.UK

Further consultations are expeced early in 2021 n the deposit return scheme,consistency of collections and extended producers responsibility.

6. CELO update

We have now taken the decision to suspend bookings of the Rubbish Adventure workshop and site tours until the New Year at the earliest and potentially the remainder of the financial year. This is due to ongoing concerns about how we can make these Covid-19 safe and prevent the risk of spreading the disease. In place of the school workshop we have been working on a series of school resources tailored to specific Key Stages (age groups) that focus on the 3Rs, climate change, the facility and, in the case of secondary aged pupils, the circular economy and UN sustainability goals. Rebecca has worked really hard on these and it is anticipated that they will be available for teachers to access from the BDR online website in September. We will also continue to run school presentations, talks and Q&As online when requested.

We are also working to create recordings of the Love Food Hate Waste and Treatment Facility talks, write a Love Your Clothes talk and potentially record a site tour video for community groups to view online or download and watch.

The monthly re-use day campaign is continuing. In July this focused on water bottles, August was re-usable cutlery and September is clothes re-use. This has been picked up by BBC Radio Sheffield and we are producing an information pack to help schools and community groups set up a uniform re-use project if they wish.

At the request of the Council we have continued to share composting messages through our social media in addition to topics such as the safe disposal of PPE, batteries, plastic swaps and food waste.

Throughout the summer we are running a focus on food waste with increased food waste messaging on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter and are replacing the live events that we would usually do with Facebook live Q&A sessions and giveaways. The first Facebook live has been seen by nearly 400 people and we have decided to set up a series of these which will be much shorter and focus on a specific type of food waste such as salad, fruit, bread, cheese, vegetables etc and include advice on how to store them as well as some use-up ideas.

Over the last few months we have been creating content for an overhauled BDR online website. This will dramatically change the existing site, updating the focus from the construction and early functioning of the facility. The new version will be more user-friendly, better laid out and will provide residents with a much clearer picture of what they can do to help slow climate change, reduce waste, improve our environment and be involved in local campaigns. There will also be a revised section for teachers to download resources to use in school and this will eventually house all of our recorded sessions too. RMBC are currently building the new site and expect to have it finished before the end of the month.

We have assisted with creating information for internal briefings on the fire at the transfer station and for the media. We continue to chase those organisations selected for support from the Renewi Corporate Social Responsibility fund. However, several of these have been closed since March but are expected to re-open this week.

7. Communications update

Pro-active campaigns have included press releases on the composting competition winners (publicity including a picture in Sheffield Telegraph and Rotherham Advertiser), re-usable water bottles, Love Food Hate Waste (publicity and picture in Rotherham Advertiser), and most recently re-use of clothing, including school uniform. The clothing campaign resulted in the CELO doing two interviews for Radio Sheffield. These campaigns are also highlighted on local authority and the BDR and Waste Less South Yorkshire websites. In addition Stratiji has been involved in helping with pages for the new BDR website and the media response to the fire at the Barnsley Waste Transfer Station. Planning is taking place for publicity for Recycle Week in September.

8. Any other business

9. Date and time of next meeting

The provisional date for this will be Wednesday, 2 nd December.