The motion was moved by Councillor Charlie Chirico and seconded by Councillor James Holmes.

The Labour amendment, as set out in agenda item 20 was moved by Councillor Ross Garrod and seconded by Councillor Abigail Jones.

The Labour amendment was then put to the vote and was carried – votes in favour 35, and votes against 22 with 1 abstention.

The amended substantive Motion was then put to the vote and was carried – votes in favour 35, and votes against 22 with 1 abstention.

RESOLVED

This Council notes that, as part of an affordable shared contract with three other south London boroughs of all political complexions, the administration is considering agreeing a joint contract that would see two new wheelie bins provided to Merton households, with both food waste and recycling collected on a weekly basis - paper and card recycling one week and plastics and bottles recycling the other - whilst residual waste will be collected on alternate weeks in recognition of an expected increase in recycling as part of major changes to the borough’s waste collection service in order to achieve cleaner streets at an affordable cost, given the current problem of foxes ripping open black sacks.

Under proposals submitted by the proposed preferred bidder that has also been proposed by Sutton, Croydon and Kingston Councils, food waste will be collected weekly, residual waste will be collected fortnightly and recycling will be collected every week but in two streams, with residents’ two recycling containers emptied on alternate weeks.

Each household will be provided with:

·             One wheelie bin for non-recyclable household waste, size to be determined but likely to be the option of requesting smaller or larger bins depending on family size;

·             One wheelie bin for paper and card, size to be determined but likely to be the option of requesting smaller or larger bins depending on family size;

Residents will continue to use:

·             Their existing box or a reusable bag for plastics, glass and cans;

·             Their existing food waste caddy

Households will continue to receive weekly collections, with two collections (food and recycling) one week and three collections (food, recycling and residual) on alternate weeks.

If residents wish to avail of the discretionary garden waste service they will continue to use their garden waste wheeled bin or bag.  Such households will receive three collections every week, with food, recycling and garden one week and food, recycling and residual on alternate weeks.

This Council recognises that many residents would very much welcome wheelie bins, and this was borne out by the extremely high satisfaction rates in the Lavender ward wheelie bins pilot, and that the Sustainable Communities panel on 9 June 2016 agreed that Cabinet should use the period of ‘Preferred Bidder Fine Turning’ to determine how many households would experience significant difficulty in storage and/or presentation of wheeled bins for regular emptying – Cabinet confirmed that it will  work with the preferred bidder as part of the fine tuning and mobilisation process to identify households deemed not suitable for wheelie bins and would require  a different system to suit their property. Issues raised included:

·             The inconvenience of having to put household rubbish in five different containers, clogging up kitchens, front gardens and street fronts; however it was explained that the council’s aim is to cut down on street litter from split black sacks and to increase recycling rates and that the collection would continue to be from just inside property boundaries so that pavements will not be affected.

·             The need for a proper assessment of the impact that changes to bin collections will have on residents; especially the elderly, disabled and those living in smaller homes and flats; however it was explained that this work had already commenced and would continue as part of the fine tuning process once the preferred bidder is appointed.

·             The need for more clarity regarding the financial savings these proposals might deliver for council taxpayers; although it was explained that the council is expecting to make in the region of £2m savings every year for the maximum 24 year (8+8+8) period of the contract, although these figures will only be fully clear once the fine tuning process has taken place and a contract is agreed, expected in December.

·             The cost of purchasing new wheelie bins and new refuse collection vehicles; although it was explained that new refuse collection vehicles would have to be purchased whether or not the council moved to the new system as the current vehicles are now overdue for replacement and that the cost of new bins is significantly less than the expected savings from the new system, giving a net saving overall.

·             The impact for existing Merton staff of transferring to the new contractor e.g. TUPE arrangements; although it was explained that the preferred contractor was fully aware of their responsibilities under TUPE.

·             That the 2015 wheeled bin pilot conducted in Lavender Fields used a different system from the proposals now being put forward; although it was explained that residents were overwhelmingly satisfied with their new wheelie bins.

This Council notes that feelings on wheelie bins are often strong in either direction and resolves to communicate with residents across all parts of Merton about changes to their waste collection service and calls on the Cabinet to look at options to address the above concerns as part of the fine tuning process and to continue to protect the weekly bin collection, as per Merton Labour’s 2014 manifesto promise, with weekly collections of food waste and recycling.