The Contract Manager presented the report.

It was highlighted under Contract 1:

?       160,000 tonnes of waste had been delivered to Viridor in the first three quarters of this financial year, with 100,000 tonnes being taken under Contract 1. The remaining 60,000 had been sent to the Energy Recovery Facility (ERF).

?       The partnership had seen a decrease of 3.5% in residual (non-recyclable) waste in the year to date and this had equated to a saving of just over £600,000.

?       The Contract was working well and operating effectively.

Contract 2:

?       All 6 Household Re-Use and Recycling Centres (HRRCs) were exceeding the 80% satisfaction target set by the Partnership and in round 10 of the customer satisfaction surveys, 90% of visitors to the sites said they waited less than 5 minutes to enter the site.

?       There had been a recent reduction in complaints and an increase in compliments for HRRCs.

?       All HRRCs were experiencing a reduction in recycle rates and work was ongoing to understand the reasons behind this. It was noted that there were still issues with mattresses and rigid plastics due to difficulties with the recycling markets for those materials. This meant that those two materials were having a significant impact on the figures. A more detailed end of year report would be produced on recycling rates.

Contract 3 was operating well with no issues.

In regards to the Phase B (Construction of the ERF) the Contract Manager advised that this had now passed all acceptance tests and wider takeover works were expected in the late spring/early summer. It was noted that there had been no process issues.

The extended testing period had meant that SLWP had been paying a reduced gate fee over this time and this had saved the partnership £2 million. In addition to the £600,000 saving achieved through the decrease in residual waste, the partnership had achieved a saving of £7.1million in comparison to last year’s figures.

Councillor Collins asked whether recycling figures were obtained for Neighbourhood Recycle Centres (NRCs) across the Boroughs, as this would be useful to look at in relation to whether these sites could be reduced or removed. The Partnership Manager confirmed that this information was not collected as a partnership however it was best for any recycling not collected at the kerbside (from residential properties) to be taken to the main HRRC sites where there were staff available to assist residents. Councillors and officers confirmed that Sutton had removed all of their NRCs previously and that this had been a positive change. Councillors from Kingston had also been reducing the number of NRCs. All Boroughs agreed that there was an issue with fly tipping at NRCs and that a report should be brought to a future Committee meeting to discuss a collective approach to these sites in further detail.

In response to further questions, the Contract Manager advised that the £2 million saved to date was not expected to increase further as the reduced gate fee for the commissioning had now ceased.

In relation to the redacted contract, this was a good opportunity for the Partnership to review whether any further information could be disclosed from the contract. It was noted that the contract was available on the Partnership website.

RESOLVED: That the Committee noted the contents of this report, and commented on any aspects of the performance of the Partnership’s Phase A & B contracts.