Full Council Update: Recycling & Window Cleaners

[Quick Explanatory Note: As part of the business of the Full Council of Bristol, members of the public and members of the council are entitled to submit written Petitions, Statements and Questions. For Questions, the answer is provided in written form, and noted in the minutes of the meeting. Where questions have been to the satisfaction of the submitting person, the full answer is not usually read out in the meeting.]

I have a bit of a backlog on political activities this month, but I've found time to comment on some good stuff from the last Full Council Meeting. (available online here). My colleagues asked some interesting questions this month, and there were also some statements on Mass Burn Incineration and Public Finance Initiative Credit (see this blog), which I'll cover separately

Recycling

MQ4 COUNCILLOR R EDDY TO ASK COUNCILLOR J PRICE, CABINET MEMBER FOR HOMES AND STREETSCENE

SELLING RECYCLABLE MATERIALS

Q1. Is the Executive Member familiar with the reported value to local authorities such as Kent or Westminster Council of selling recyclable materials?

A1 The Executive Member is aware the sale of recycled materials, particularly that scrap metal at Household Waste
Recycling Centres has increased substantially and the Council has taken advantage of this by negotiating a scrap metal contract linked to the market price.

Q2. Does the Executive Member agree with me that this seems potentially to be a very lucrative source of income for cash-strapped Councils?

A2 This source of income is very lucrative and estimated when preparing the annual budget and updated on each budget forecast. The latest figures show that already in the first 4 months of this year there has been an income of £110,000 from sale of recyclables at Household Waste Recycling Centres.

Q3 Can the Executive Member advise me of the existing arrangements between this Authority and its contractors who handle black-box household waste?

A3 The Council has an agreement with SITA that BCC receive the income from the first 27,000 tonnes of kerbside collected recyclables and a 50% share thereafter. Approx 29,500 tonnes were collected during the last contract year producing an income of £1.4m for the Council.

Q4. What steps, if any, is she taking to harness the financial benefits of this so-called “green gold”?

A4 Bristol City Council is continually seeking out new materials to recycle, not only to produce an income but also reduce landfill costs including landfill tax. For example, the latest initiatives we are researching for Household Waste Recycling Centres include recycling old carpets, recycling plastic material eg plastic chairs, tables etc and cooking oil.

Cllr Barbara Lewis asked a related question related to the contract itself:

MQ9 COUNCILLOR B LEWIS TO ASK COUNCILLOR J PRICE, CABINET MEMBER FOR HOMES AND STREETSCENE

Following on from an article in The Times regarding use and economic gain from recylates

[Note - not sure which Times article this is referring to. Probably not The Hidden Costs of Recycling.]

Q1. Who holds the contract for collection of plastics, glass, paper, cardboard and metals?

A1 SITA

Q2. When was this contract signed?

A2 1 November 2001

Q3. How long does it run for?

A3 With the three year extension, until 31 October 2011

Q4. Is the contract for collection only?

A4 Yes (processing of recyclable materials is included)

Q5. Is the Council benefiting from any increase in the commodity price of metals and paper etc.

A5 The sale of recycled materials, particularly scrap metal has increased substantially and the Council has taken advantage of this by negotiating a scrap metal contract linked to the market price.. The income from recyclable materials is estimated when preparing that annual budget and updated on each budget forecast.

Q6. If so, what financial benefit has this been to the Council.

A6 The Council has an agreement with SITA that BCC receive the income from the first 27,000 tonnes of kerbside collected recyclables and a 50% share thereafter. Approx 29,500 tonnes were collected during the last contract year producing an income of £1.4m for the Council.

A quick bit of arithmetic (amended thanks to Green Bristol Blog) gives us the approximate price per metric ton paid to the council:

27000a + 2500b = £1.4m (where b = 0.5a ). So the Council obtain £49.17 £49.56 per metric ton for recyclates on average.

Now if one were to look at current market prices for recyclates, such as the tables at LetsRecycle.com, you'll notice that different types of recyclate have significantly different market prices (RSS readers, click here ):

I think I might have another go at an FoI request to find out what the Council gets from SITA.

Looking at this, one might ask why we're bothering to collect glass at all. The difficulty with calculation about recycling is to take account of the hidden costs such as time spent by householders sorting their rubbish; the costs of water to clean it; and the cost of plastic recycling boxes. The one cost that is easy to quantify is the artificial and absurd tax on waste sent to Landfill, as mandated by EU Council Directive 1999/31/EC, which currently stands at £32.00 per tonne, with a proposed annual rise of £8.00 per tonne.

Anti Social Window Cleaning

(Video: Music Hall Star and winner of the Stalin Prize, George Formby Jr.)

MQ3 COUNCILLOR J GOULANDRIS TO ASK COUNCILLOR D PICKUP, CABINET MEMBER FOR CARE, TACKLING DEPRIVATION AND CRIME.

WINDSCREEN CLEANERS

Q1. Is the Executive Member aware of the problem for motorists of being persistently harassed by windscreen cleaners near the junction of Bond Street and Newfoundland Street?

A1 Yes. The council and police are receiving in excess of over 40 complaints a month for some locations in Bristol. Bond Street and Newfoundland Street are slightly lower.

Q2. If so, has the Executive Member asked the police to intervene and what was their response?

A2 Officers from Bristol City Council are working with the police to deal with the problem. The police response has been positive, however, the resolution is complex and any action is likely to provide only a short term respite i.e. arrest, charge and bail and back out on the streets. The police are building evidence on offenders with a view to applying Anti-social behaviour (ASB) legislation. In addition to using ASB legislation the police now have agreement from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to use legislation under the Clean Neighbourhoods & Environment Act 2005 (CNE Act 2005) where an offence can be committed, subject to certain caveats. The offence being ‘a person who carries out restricted works on a motor vehicle on a road is guilty of an offence’ In terms of action to tackle this problem, over the last three months 10 have been arrested for begging, 8 arrested under CNE Act 2005 and 25 ASB warning notices have been issued.

Q3. These cleaners wash windscreens even when asked not to do so and then demand money. Does the Executive Member agree with me that such illegal activity is not a good advertisement for the City and is intimidatory behaviour, which must be stamped out?

A3 Yes. It is not a good advertisement for Bristol and the Safer Bristol Partnership are determined to take action against those responsible for this activity.

"[T]he resolution is complex and any action is likely to provide only a short term respite i.e. arrest, charge and bail and back out on the streets". Removing the latter two stages of this process doesn't seem very complex to me. What do you think?