Councillor Natasha Irons

Cllr Natasha Irons, Cabinet Member for Local Environment, Green Spaces and Climate Change, gave a presentation on the future of waste collection, recycling and street cleaning services. The presentation is attached to this report.

Cllr Irons said there were several problems with the way the current contract worked. As a result, Cabinet decided in October to end the contract with Veolia in 2025. The Council then held a consultation with residents and received more than 2500 responses. The consultation showed that that satisfaction with waste collection dropped in 2019 but has improved since. Merton has the seventh highest recycling rate in London, so this element of the service is working well. In contrast satisfaction with Street cleaning has not recovered, and Merton issued Veolia with an improvement notice in 2022.

Resident’s biggest concerns were street litter, fly-tipping and over-flowing street bins. There were also concerns about the arrangements for collection from flats, a residents felt that they were not being helped to recycle by the system. Residents were happy with Garth Road and the new booking system. Those residents who used the bulky and garden waste services were satisfied but there were concerns about the cost putting people off from using the service. Neighbourhood Recycling Centres can be fly-tipping hotspots. Residents felt there was a clear need to tackle fly-tipping, and satisfaction was especially low in South Wimbledon.

Cllr Irons said that the Council considered all the available options for service delivery, namely contracting, bringing in-house, setting up an arm’s length company, and setting up a Joint Venture with providers. All of the options were tested against the same criteria and the evaluation concluded that contracting out waste, but bringing-in house street cleaning would offer the best solution.

For both services the Council will look to have a more prescriptive specification and work has begun to build those specifications with a view to going out to the market in April. In the meantime, the Council will also pilot a programme of bringing Garth Road to local communities in order to help residents recycle larger items.

A resident asked about having a Community Skip scheme, and if there would be an option for smaller wheelie bins. Cllr Irons said that two big changes would be happening quickly – changes to collections from flats above shops, and a ‘Garth Road on the Road’, taking option of recycling bulky waste close to communities. Previously skip schemes were abused so the new pilot will aim to increase recycling options. As part of the specification, we can review receptacles but will be sticking with wheelie bins. The number of options will depend on costs.

A resident asked about the future role of South London Waste Partnership. Cllr Irons said Merton and the other boroughs will be going our own way on collection but the transportation and disposal of waste done together still works and will continue. The SLWP will continue to look for efficiencies.

A resident said that there are problems with BIFFA bins in the access road behind Sainsburys in Morden. Cllr Irons explained commercial waste would not be part of the specification as businesses have to make their own arrangements, but Merton can look at enforcement of that site.

A resident gave thanks for improvements on Netley Gardens that had resulted in a reduction in fly-tipping but there is still have a problem with a landlord on St Helier Avenue. Cllr Irons said she would need to check with officers.

A resident asked about the recently purchased mechanical street sweepers and Cllr Irons said that these belong to Merton Council so would transfer to the in-house service.