The Environment and Communities Overview and Scrutiny Board met today and received the final progress report on the recommendations that were made as a result of their in-depth review into recycling in 2010.
The Board were pleased to learn that the vast majority of their recommendations have been implemented and were advised by Reena Owen (Corporate Director of Environment) that the recommendations from the review have been incorporated into the Authority’s new Waste Strategy, which is currently in the process of being agreed.
The Board discussed progress towards achieving the Welsh Government’s recycling targets – where we are expected to be recycling 52% of our rubbish by April 2013, with the target increasing significantly in subsequent years (up to 70% by 2025). If these targets aren’t met then the Authority will face fines, which we can ill afford. Following the successful roll out of the extended kerbside recycling scheme across the City and County of Swansea, the Director advised that that the Department’s focus for 2012/13 will be to increase participation rates. In order to enable this to happen, additional funds have been secured to employ six temporary (for 6 months) staff to door knock in areas of low participation to encourage people to recycle as much as possible and to explain how and why it should be done. It is hoped that this will assist in increasing recycling rates so that the target can be met.
The Board agreed that good progress has been made on this review and the action plan, and agreed that it can be concluded. However, given the importance of achieving recycling targets the Board decided that an annual monitoring report should be included in the Board’s work plan for 2012/13 so that it can be kept up-dated on the Authority’s progress.
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