Hillingdon Council Cabinet Member and Officer Decisions
Civic Centre Works Programme 2022/23: Improved recycling facilities at the Civic Centre. Release No 4
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Democratic Services
Location: Phase II
Ext: 0692
DDI: 01895 250692
CMD No: 574
To: COUNCILLOR MARTIN GODDARD
CABINET MEMBER FOR FINANCE
COUNCILLOR EDDIE LAVERY
CABINET MEMBER FOR RESIDENTS’ SERVICES
c.c. All Members of th e Residents’ Services Select
Committee
c.c. Melanie Smith, Waste Services
c.c. Perry Scott, Corporate Director of Place
Date: 16 August 2022
Non-Key Decision request Form D
CAPITAL RELEASE REPORT (July 2022)
DEPARTMENT: Place
SERVICE AREA / PROGRAMME: Waste Services / Civic Centre Works
Programme Capital Budget 2022/23: Miscellaneous Workstream – Improved
Recycling Facilities at the Civic Centre.
RELEASE NO: 4
Dear Cabinet Members
Attached is a report requesting that a decision be made by you as an individual Cabinet
Member. Democratic Services confirm that this is not a key decision, as such, the Local
Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access to Information) (England)
Regulations 2012 notice period does not apply.
You should take a decision on or after Wednesday 24 August 2022 in order to meet
Constitutional requirements about publication of decisions that are to be made. You may
wish to discuss the report with the Corporate Director before it is made. Please indicate your
decision on the duplicate memo supplied, and return it to me when you have made your
decision. I will then arrange for the formal notice of decision to be published.
Neil Fraser
Democratic Services Officer
Title of Report: Waste Services / Civic Centre Works Programme Capital Budget 2022/ 23:
Miscellaneous Workstream – Improved Recycling Facilities at the Civic Centre.
RELEASE NO: 4
Decision made:
Reasons for your decision: (e.g. as stated in report)
Alternatives considered and rejected: (e.g. as stated in report)
Signed ………………………………………………………Date……………………..
Cabinet Member for Finance / Cabinet Member for Residents’ Services
Capital Release Report – 16 August 2022 Page 1
(Part 1 Public)
CAPITAL RELEASE REPORT (July 2022)
DEPARTMENT: Place
SERVICE AREA / PROGRAMME: Waste Services / Civic Centre Works Programme Capital
Budget 2022/23: Miscellaneous Workstream – Improved Recycling Facilities at the Civic
Centre.
RELEASE NO: 4
Cabinet Members Councillor Martin Goddard
Councillor Eddie Lavery
Cabinet Portfolios Cabinet Member for Finance
Cabinet Member for Resident Services
Officer Contact Melanie Smith, Waste Services
Papers with report Appendix A with capital release requests for approval
HEADLINES
Summary
To seek Cabinet Member approval for the release of capital funds.
Putting our
Residents First
This report supports the Council objective of strong financial
management.
Financial Cost This report seeks the release of £12k from the Civic Centre Works
Programme 2022/23 capital budget for improving recycling
facilities for staff at Hillingdon Council’s Civic Centre, including the
introduction of food waste recycling. The works will commence
upon release of the funds and are due for completion by 10/2022.
Relevant Select
Committee
Residents’ Services Select Committee.
Ward(s) affected All.
RECOMMENDATIONS
That the Cabinet Member for Financ e and the Cabinet Member for Resident s’ Services
agree to the capital release request of £12k from the Civic Centre Works Programme
(CCWP) Capital Budget 2022/2023; Miscellaneous Workstream - I mproved recycling
facilities at the Civic Centre. (Appendix A).
Capital Release Report – 16 August 2022 Page 2
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Reasons for recommendation
The London Mayor has set a recycling target of 65% by 2030 in the London Environment Strategy.
To meet this, Hillingdon’s household recycling rate will need to increase to 50% ( the
Borough’s most recent published rate being 37.4 % for 2019/20) and the non-household rate up
to 75%. In help support the achievement of the London-wide target for non- household waste,
changes within the Civic Centre and surrounding offices must be implemented.
Within Hillingdon’s July 2021 Climate Strategy July 2021, there are pledges to:
- C5.1 Lead by example with a clear waste collection and sorting strategy for the Council's
own operations with year-on-year targets for improvement.
- C5.4 Work with businesses to reduce waste productivity and to provide more opportunities
to customers to reduce and recycle their waste.
- C5.5 Encourage and support residents and communities to avoid, reduce, reuse and
recycle waste in that order.
In addition to being aligned to the London Environment Strategy , this project will fully support
Hillingdon’s Climate Strategy, specifically C5.1 Lead by example.
The recycling team has been working with managing agents and businesses with bulk containers
to improve recycling facilities throughout Hillingdon. However, given that bulk containers of
recycling from the Civic Centre have been rejected due to contamination, it is essential that
Council staff are encouraged to improve their recycling habits.
Currently there is a mismatch of five different container styles with unclear labelling being used
across the Civic Centre. This causes confusion amongst staff, particularly those who are not
Hillingdon residents, and often results in waste being placed into incorrect bins.
This has a dual negative impact, with recyclables ‘lost’ into the general waste stream and general
waste placed erroneously into recycling bins causing contamination. The latter results in full bulk
containers being rejected at the point of collection and therefore treated (and subsequently costed
to the Council) as general waste.
Cleaning staff have many containers to service across various locations at a frequency of at least
three times per day. The proposed installation of new containers will condense recycling facilities
to 10 easy to identify locations across each level of the Civic Centre. They are uniform and clearly
labelled, making it easier for staff and cleaners to identify the purpose of each bin. A lthough a
new food waste facility is being introduc ed, the removal of over 250 unlabelled and mismatched
individual waste containers and replac ement with uniform and informative dual containers plus
food caddies, there should be a significant reduction in the time that cleaners currently spend
locating bins to service/empty.
The containers for food waste collections will be the same as those issued to residents for use
within homes. These are 5 litre silver caddies with the London Borough of Hillingdon logo on the
front. The communications team has designed a label that can be applied easily to the small
plastic units to detail the types of food waste accepted in the caddies to maximise collection and
minimise contamination.
Capital Release Report – 16 August 2022 Page 3
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Alternative options considered
Stickers, posters and labelling of the current containers on site w ere considered as an option.
However, those currently used for recycling are not suitable for labelling and with many different
styles of container on site it would be difficult to direct staff to a single type of waste stream.
Select Committee comments
None at this stage.
SUPPORTING INFORMATION
1. Investment in recycling facilities at the Civic Centre presents an opportunity for disposal cost
savings via better waste segregation and increased recycling. With successful
communications and staff engagement, an improved quality of recycling should be possible.
Costs for disposing of food waste and dry mixed recycling are significantly lower than that for
general refuse. The savings per tonne for recycled material are detailed in the table below:
Category Disposal cost per
tonne
Saving per tonne
when recycled
General waste £124.23 n/a
Food waste £9.98 £114.25
Mixed Dry Recycling* £35.13 £89.10
* 2022/23 budgeted cost per tonne, but varies by month dependent on
composition and sales market values
2. The proposed investment will support an improvement in recycling rates, with staff benefiting
from the provision of more effective facilities to recycle their waste more effectively/correctly.
3. The proposal is consistent with the London Environmental Strategy objective for maximising
recycling by providing recycling provisions to all residents . Staff working within the Civic
Centre should be seen as residents whilst working within the borough.
4. Improving recycling provisions and providing fit for purpose containers will directly support
Hillingdon's Climate Strategy July 2021 (C5 Waste management):
Our vision, declaration and plan - Hillingdon Council
5. Most of the defunct existing containers will be re- purposed for other projects . If this is not
feasible, they will be recycled if possible.
6. Staff will be informed of the changes via a series of all-staff email communications, including
a ‘coming soon’ message distributed in advance to prepare staff. This will be followed by a
Capital Release Report – 16 August 2022 Page 4
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‘welcome to your new waste containers’ email and weekly reminders, moving to monthly for
a six-month period.
7. Staff will be provided with a contact email address enabling them raise queries regarding the
new containers directly with the recycling team.
8. A toolbox talk to cleaning staff will provide them with the correct knowledge regarding waste
disposal when emptying the Civic Centre’s containers. This will include who to contact should
supplies of clear dry mixed recycling sacks or food waste caddy liners become low. They will
also be provided with a 25-litre lidded caddy as a collection tool for food waste bags, enabling
the transport of food waste cleanly and effectively to larger wheeled container s ready for
weekly collection.
9. Food waste will be removed from the kitchens daily by cleani ng staff and deposited in larger
wheeled containers within the waste storage area. This will be emptied on a weekly basis by
the Council’s food waste collection crews.
10. Similar food waste collection provisions have been trialled successfully across nine schools
between September 2021 and July 2022. This has resulted in almost 30 tonnes of food waste
being diverted from general waste and generating a disposal cost reduction of c.£3.5k.
11. Glasdon, suppliers of waste management solutions , were able to meet the Council’s
specifications and provided the most economic quote for 90 containers at £12,264.12.
Financial Implications
Civic Centre Works Programme Revised Budget £671k, Previously Released / Pending
Release £113k, Capital Release Requested £12k. Appendix A
The 2022/23 capital programme, approved by Cabinet and Council in February 2022, included a
budget for the Civic Centre Works Programme (CCWP) of £671k.
Previously, £113k has been released or is included in a release report in preparation (up to
Release No 3.) from the Civic Centre Works Programme 2022/23 capital budget.
This report is seeking the release of £12k for Improved recycling facilities at the Civic Centre. The
release request is based upon quoted costs from Glasdon. Glasdon who are suppliers of office
waste were able to meet the specification and provided the most economic quote.
The remaining £546k of the CCWP 2022/23 capital budget will be allocated to projects as an
when required, subject to the capital release procedure.
As illustrated in the table in paragraph 1 of the Supporting Information section above, investment
in recycling infrastructure presents an opportunity for disposal cost reductions within revenue
budgets via improved waste segregation and diversion of material from residual waste. Following
installation of the Civic Centre facilities recommended in this report, waste and recycling tonnages
and disposal costs will be reviewed closely as part of the monthly budget monitoring cycle . The
impact on the cleaning contract will also be assessed. Any savings identified will be addressed in
future iterations of the Council’s Medium-Term Financial Forecast.
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RESIDENT BENEFIT & CONSULTATION
The benefit or impact upon residents, service users and communities?
There will be a positive direct impact on the weekly collection of waste and recycling in the form
of a reduced need for containers and reducing from two scheduled general waste collections per
week, to one scheduled general waste collection of per week.
Staff who are also r esidents will benefit from the proposed installation as they will receive up to
date information that can be transferred to their homes, improving knowledge of the services that
they can access and further enhancing recycling rates.
In line with Council's vision of ‘putting our residents first’, there is a need to practice the messages
shared with residents at the core of the Council. The recommended changes will support the
Council in demonstrating best practice to residents.
The Civic Centre cleaning team will experience a more streamlined collection routine, reducing
their need to search for containers and trying to identify whether waste is general refuse or
recyclable. Time spent emptying waste containers should decrease, with the potential for
efficiency benefits as a result.
Consultation carried out or required
None required.
CORPORATE CONSIDERATIONS
Corporate Finance
Corporate Finance has reviewed the report and concurs with the financial implications set out
above, noting that the recommended action to agree a release of £12k for Improved recycling
facilities at the Civic Centre, will be funded from the approved 2022/23 Civic Centre Works
Programme capital budget.
Following the installation of the Civic Centre facilities recommended in this report, waste and
recycling tonnages and disposal costs will be reviewed closely as part of the monthly budget
monitoring cycle. The impact on the cleaning contract will also be assessed . A ny savings
identified will be addressed in future iterations of the Council’s Medium-Term Financial Forecast.
.
Legal
Legal Services confirms that the Council is responsible for carrying out this function pursuant to
Section 2 of the Health & Safety at Work etc Act 1974. Thus, there are no legal impediments to
the capital release being authorised, although any contract that is entered into must comply with
the Council's Procurement and Contract Standing Orders.
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Capital Release Protocol
The release of all capital funds, and certain revenue funds, held by the Council is to be made by
a formal democratic decision. No expenditure can be placed or committed by officers until this
formal approval is given by Democratic Services. Release of funds must be for identified
projects only and strictly not for the general release of funds for projects to be identified at a
later date. No block releases of capital or funding will be allowed, except if authorised by the
Leader of the Council in advance to Corporate Finance. The release of funds will only be made
if previous Council, Cabinet or Cabinet Member agreement has been given to the project and
only if there is an approved budget.
BACKGROUND PAPERS
NIL.
Capital Release Report – 16 August 2022 Page 7
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APPENDIX A
Location
Project /
Expenditure
Title
Information
Funds
Release
Sought
£000
Approve Hold
More
Information
Required
LBH Civic
Centre
Improved
Recycling
Facilities at
the Civic
Centre
90 x new &
uniformed
containers to
promote correct
recycling within
LBH Civic Centre
and other offices
12
Total seeking release 12
Previously released 113
Budget 671
Remaining budget 546
View Decision / Minutes Text
Executive Decision Notice – 14 October 2022 Page 1 This notice is a public document also available to view on the Council's website www.hillingdon.gov.uk OFFICIAL EXECUTIVE DECISION NOTICE PUBLISHED BY DEMOCRATIC SERVICES Notice is hereby given that the following decision(s) have been made today by Cabinet Members at the London Borough of Hillingdon: Title of decision CAPITAL RELEASE REPORT (July 2022) DEPARTMENT: Place SERVICE AREA / PROGRAMME: Waste Services / Civic Centre Works Programme Capital Budget 2022/23: Miscellaneous Workstream – Improved Recycling Facilities at the Civic Centre. RELEASE NO: 4 Reference No. 577 Date of decision Friday 14 October 2022 Call-in expiry date 5pm, Friday 21 October 2022 Relevant Select Committee Residents Services Select Committee. Relevant Wards All Decision made Cabinet Members making the decision Councillor Eddie Lavery – Cabinet Member for Residents Services Councillor Martin Goddard – Cabinet Member for Finance Approved That the Cabinet Member for Finance and the Cabinet Member for Residents’ Services agree to the capital release request of £12k from the Civic Centre Works Programme (CCWP) Capital Budget 2022/2023; Miscellaneous Workstream - Improved recycling facilities at the Civic Centre. (Appendix A). Reason for decision The London Mayor has set a recycling target of 65% by 2030 in the London Environment Strategy . To meet this, Hillingdon’s household recycling rate will need to increase to 50% ( the Borough’s most recent published rate being 37.4 % for 2019/20) and the non-household rate up to 75%. In help support the achievement of the London-wide target for non- household waste, changes within the Civic Centre and surrounding offices must be implemented. Within Hillingdon’s July 2021 Climate Strategy July 2021, there are pledges to: Executive Decision Notice – 14 October 2022 Page 2 This notice is a public document also available to view on the Council's website www.hillingdon.gov.uk - C5.1 Lead by example with a clear waste collection and sorting strategy for the Council's own operations with year-on-year targets for improvement. - C5.4 Work with businesses to reduce waste productivity and to provide more opportunities to customers to reduce and recycle their waste. - C5.5 Encourage and support residents and communities to avoid, reduce, reuse and recycle waste in that order. In addition to being aligned to the London Environment Strategy, this project will fully support Hillingdon’s Climate Strategy, specifically C5.1 Lead by example. The recycling team has been working with managing agents and businesses with bulk containers to improve recycling facilities throughout Hillingdon. However, given that bulk containers of recycling from the Civic Centre have been rejected due to contamination, it is essential th at Council staff are encouraged to improve their recycling habits. Currently there is a mismatch of five different container styles with unclear labelling being used across the Civic Centre. This causes confusion amongst staff, particularly those who are not Hillingdon residents, and often results in waste being placed into incorrect bins. This has a dual negative impact , with recyclables ‘lost’ into the general waste stream and general waste placed erroneously into recycling bins caus ing contamination. The latter results in full bulk containers being rejected at the point of collection and therefore treated (and subsequently costed to the Council) as general waste. Cleaning staff have many containers to service across various locations at a frequency of at least three times per day. The proposed installation of new containers will condense recycling facilities to 10 easy to identify locations across each level of the Civic Centre. They are uniform and clearly labelled, making it easier for staff and cleaners to identify the purpose of each bin. Although a new food waste facility is being introduc ed, the removal of over 250 unlabelled and mismatched individual waste containers and replacement with uniform and informative dual containers plus food caddies, there should be a significant reduction in the time that cleaners currently spend locating bins to service/empty. The containers for food waste collections will be the same as those issued to residents for use within homes. These are 5 litre Executive Decision Notice – 14 October 2022 Page 3 This notice is a public document also available to view on the Council's website www.hillingdon.gov.uk silver caddies with the London Borough of Hillingdon logo on the front. The communications team has designed a label that can be applied easily to the small plastic units to detail the types of food waste accepted in the caddies to maximise collection and minimise contamination. Alternative options considered and rejected Stickers, posters and labelling of the current containers on site were considered as an option. However, those currently used for recycling are not suitable for labelling and with many different styles of container on site it would be difficult to direct staff to a single type of waste stream. Classification Part I - Public Link to associated report Here Relevant Officer contact & Directorate Melanie Smith, Waste Services Any interest declared by the Cabinet Member(s) / dispensation granted N/A Implementation of decision & scrutiny call-in [Internal Use only] When can this decision be implemented by officers? Officers can implement Cabinet Member decision in this notice only from the expiry of the scrutiny call-in period which is: 5pm, Friday 21 October 2022 However, this is subject to the decision not being called in by Councillors on the relevant Select Committee. Upon receipt of a valid call-in request, Democratic Services will immediately advise the relevant officer(s) and the decision must then be put on hold. Councillor scrutiny call-in of this decision Councillors on the relevant Select Committee shown in this notice may request to call-in this decision. The request must be before the expiry of the scrutiny call-in period above. Councillors should use the Scrutiny Call-in App (link below) on their devices to initiate any call-in request. Further advice can be sought from Democratic Services if required: Scrutiny Call-In - Power Apps (secure) Executive Decision Notice – 14 October 2022 Page 4 This notice is a public document also available to view on the Council's website www.hillingdon.gov.uk Further information These decisions, where applicable, have been taken under The Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access to Information) (England) Regulations 2012. This is the formal notice by the Council of the above executive decision, including links to the reports where applicable. If you would like more information on this decision, please contact Democratic Services on 01895 250636 or email: democratic@hillingdon.gov.uk. Circulation of this decision notice is to a variety of people including Members of the Council, Corporate Directors, Officers, Group Secretariats and the Public. Copies are also placed on the Council’s website. Democratic Services London Borough of Hillingdon Civic Centre High Street Uxbridge UB8 1UW