The Chair welcomed all present.

There were no apologies for absence.

There were no declarations of interest.

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting held on 11 September 2018 were signed and agreed as an accurate record of the meeting.

The Contract Manager presented the report.

It was highlighted under Contract 1:

?        There had been a reduction of 109,000 tonnes of residual waste, which was a 3.2% decrease on the 2017 tonnages.

?        There were no issues to report.

Contract 2:

?        Surveys for all sites reported customer satisfaction levels of above the 80% target.

?        Queue times were improving.

?        There was a reduced performance compared to 2017 which was due in part to the reduction of green waste tonnages due to the dry weather during the Summer.

?        The Household Reuse and Recycling Centres (HRRCs) at Garth Road and Kimpton Park Way had not met the 70% recycling performance target, with Garth Road having seen a reduction of 10%. Kimpton had a 4% reduction of residual waste however that had been offset by the 17% reduction in green garden waste.

?        Trials were currently being run by Veolia in relation to separating paper and card and on rigid plastics.

Contract 3 was operating well with no issues.

In regards to Phase B (Construction of the Energy Recovery Facility) the Contract Manager advised that the facility had passed the majority of commissioning tests and there were currently no issues to report.

Members raised that they would like to see more re-use, particularly in relation to electrical goods and this would be more effective if it was co-ordinated as a partnership and possibly online to encourage residents to reuse items more and undertook to discuss this further.

In response to member questions, the Contract Manager advised that the ERF remained in the commissioning process and this is expected to be completed at the end of 2018 or early 2019.

RESOLVED: that members noted the contents of the report and commented on any aspects of the performance of the Partnerships Phase A and B contracts.

The Finance Officer presented the report, noting that there were no variations to report as the forecast remained as per the budget.

In response to member questions, the Finance Officer advised that actual figures varied from the forecast due to Boroughs recharging each other, however there was nothing to indicate that there would be an underspend.

RESOLVED: that the report was noted.

The Strategic Partnership Manager presented the report, advising that an increase of £61,200 was proposed, which included a planned resident survey and an increase in staffing costs due to incremental pay increases and borough pay provisions. A potential new post is being proposed which would include strategy and commissioning work and this was currently pending approval from the boroughs. The post is accounted for in the budget and means we will have a reduced dependency on external advisors, reducing our costs in that area.

The Communications Advisor responded in response to further questions that in terms of the proposed resident survey work, this would be the 4^th survey that the Partnership has undertaken and that these were scientifically robust surveys and the proposed costs were in line with previous surveys.

RESOLVED: That the Final proposed budget for the core activities of the Partnership as set out in 2.1 was agreed.

The Communications Advisor presented the report, advising that the results of the Plastic Planet Campaign had been positive, particularly in Merton where the cost had been 3p per 10-second view of the Facebook videos, with the other Boroughs at 4p per 10-second view, showing that the campaign had performed well.

The Communications Advisor presented the next campaign idea which, following feedback from previous meetings of the Committee, was in relation to where recycling is taken after collection and what happens to the materials once they have been collected. This would be in the form of a short film with 10-second trailers posted on social media.

The Communications Advisor noted that the trial at Villiers Road and Kimpton Park Way HRRCs requesting that vans and other larger vehicles register prior to visiting the sites had gone live the previous day (3.12.18) and that this was being monitored closely.

The Communications Advisor advised that members of the Committee had visited the Beddington ERF on 7 November 2018 and had a Q&A session with a representative from the Environment Agency.  The main focus is currently on preparing the Beddington ERF Virtual Visitor Centre which will be launched in the coming weeks. 

Members noted that communications needed to be promoted in each Borough and that there needed to be more communication on textiles and where these could be taken. Members also requested that in relation to emissions from the ERF, a comparable example was included with the figures to help members of the public understand the equivalent levels.

Members welcomed the short film ideas and requested ways in which they could promote it once it had been completed as well as requesting notification of any targets for the campaign.

RESOLVED: That the Committee noted the contents of the report and commented on any aspects of communications and engagement activities relating to the Phase A and B contracts.

The Strategic Partnership Manager presented the report and gave an overview of the main risks detailed within the report, advising that all risks were being closely monitored.

RESOLVED: That the report was noted.

There was no urgent business.

The next meeting will be held on Tuesday 2 April 2019 at 6.30pm at Merton Civic Offices.

The next meeting will be held on Tuesday 2 April 2019 at 6.30pm at Merton Civic Offices.