Amongst the backdrop of a lack of money in Councils generally, waste management services have an additional set of challenges related to new policy, retaining new payment streams and managing both current and future cost liabilities. This is the first instalment in a two part blog setting out 6 key challenges that are relevant for most of our client Councils, and potential solutions (the priority order will be bespoke to the Council).
1 - Efficient services – not only in terms of lower costs for service delivery, but also in terms of achieving the maximum Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR, for packaging) government payments whilst still contributing to achieving other targets like Net Zero carbon emissions.
Efficiency is largely gained from two activities, service design (what it is) and procurement and / or governance (how it is delivered). Service design can be in terms of optimised routes and efficient collection systems and arrangements - no Council needs to have weekly residual waste collections across the board anymore (albeit some residents will usually prefer this), and increasing numbers of Councils are moving to three weekly residual waste collection frequency, to manage costs. Reducing overall arisings (prevention, reuse, correct management of waste) will also improve service efficiencies.
A new procurement provides the opportunity for more cost effective services, assuming an outsourced solution is provided, and if the procurement can be made attractive to the market. However, there are a limited number of players in the waste services marketplace. The available infrastructure and the quality of collected recyclate and waste are also key aspects to this (see item 2 ‘Effective services’). Bringing services in house can also yield benefits in some circumstances and provide greater control, and joining with other Councils can provide efficiency through economy of scale (see item 5 in the next blog, ‘Local Government Reorganisation’), noting that the labour management burden is placed on Councils.
2 - Effective services – this aspect also relates to producer responsibility monies, but also high recycling / waste diversion will also yield benefits in terms of reducing liabilities under the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) extension (see item 4 in the next blog). You can see there is quite a lot of overlap between these 6 areas already! But how to achieve a more effective collection? This often requires some investment, for example in communications / behaviour change campaigns, education in waste prevention, community reuse, and use of technology (e.g. AI to monitor participation or investment in Materials Recycling Facility, MRF, sorting equipment).
A campaign for waste prevention and reuse will reduce the amount of waste that needs to be collected and treated. A knowledge of the baseline situation (waste composition), will help to inform strategic decisions and business cases for change, e.g. targeting areas with lower service provision (e.g. flats). Procurement can influence effectiveness for example: bag splitting at HWRCs; MRF effectiveness for sorting recyclate / finding markets; inclusion of waste minimisation and reuse into contracts etc.
For in house operations, consideration of positive governance arrangements / incentives could be put in place to increase effectiveness of the service. In addition, Council budgets for management of waste services have been effectively cut in recent years meaning that there are sometimes insufficient Council staff to manage and deliver effective services. Therefore, investment into the service, via new burdens and EPR monies, should be kept within waste service as far as practical.
3 - Revenue Generation – often thought of in terms of increasing ‘trade’ (commercial) waste collections but also in the prevalent charges for garden waste and bulky waste collections. Charges that may be made for collection / disposal from other non domestic household waste sources like community centres, schools etc. could yield further revenue for a stretched service. In some instances there are a lot of ‘free’ collections which support other Council activities or buildings or events, which could also receive a fee for the service. A Council could also collect waste for a neighbouring Council thereby generating a net income.
On the disposal side there may be charges accepted using Council infrastructure for commercial waste or waste / recyclables from other Councils. Often there is a balance between additional charges and their impact on stakeholders. The Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) scheme will also negatively impact on recyclate income or MRF gate fees when in place (2027), understanding liabilities in this area can help with future planning and business cases for investment.
See part 2 of this blog for the next three challenges and solutions – The ETS, Local Government Reorganisation and Simpler Recycling!
We have an experienced, specialist team of Chartered professionals who can support on any of the above, either as a flexible critical friend or a friendly team to deliver specific tasks, we have worked with over 130 Councils on waste consultancy. See www.frithrm.com for details or email paul@frithrm.com or call 01746 552423 for a chat.