To receive a presentation from Gill Chisnall, Corporate Manager Communications and Ruth Whaymand, Contracts Manager, on the Communications and Education Plan for the new Food Waste Service.
The Portfolio
Holder for Operations has been invited to the meeting for this item.
Minutes:
The Committee welcomed Gill Chisnall, Corporate Manager
Communications and Ruth Whaymand, Contracts Manager, who were in attendance to give
a presentation on the communications and education plan for the new food waste
collection service.
The Committee was advised on a number of issues, these
included:
Work Streams – it was noted that collection
arrangements with the Council’s contractor, SERCO, were being reviewed to
incorporate the new service, this had some legal and financial implications,
due to round changes and a rebalancing of top heavy rounds to ensure a smoother
service to residents. It was advised that two Recycling Support Officers had
been recruited, on a one year contract, to support the launch of the new
service, both would be carrying out engagement with residents prior to, during
and after the launch. Their role would also include monitoring feedback and
adapting the communications to address residents’ concerns. IT systems were
being updated to allow for a customer self-serve portal to report missed
collections/check collection days, the crew would also be able to log problems
from hand held devices in real time.
Caddies and Liners – It was advised that the service
would be launched in two phases, the first phase would be to individual
properties and phase two would be to properties with shared facilities, such as
flats. As part of phase one, it was noted that households would be provided
with a 23L kerbside caddy, a 5L kitchen caddy and a one-off roll of liners. It
was noted that the use of liners wasn’t necessary and these could be
substituted with alternatives such as bread bags, newspaper etc. It was advised
that the caddies were due to arrive in early September but the liners had been
slightly delayed. Once everything was in place the “go live” date would be
announced for phase one. The launch of the service to shared facility
properties (phase two) was likely to commence in spring 2022.
Engagement/Communications – It was noted that a
Leadership Group within the Council had been established to consider the
implications of introducing a food waste collection service. The Group had
considered opportunities/barriers, especially with harder to reach groups and
had spent time learning from the experiences of other councils and industry
specialists, WRAP (Waste and Resource Action Programme). Following the
establishment of a Member Working Group, a communications plan had been
developed. Initially, social media had been used to raise awareness of the
importance of a food waste collection service, following the adoption of the
Council’s Climate Change Strategy. More recently, “teaser” leaflets had been
distributed to all households and further information, such as a “how to guide”
and “tips” leaflets, would be circulated with the delivery of the caddies, in
September 2021, to phase one properties. To complement this, social media would
continue to be used to raise awareness of the new service and offer tips and
advice on how to get the most from the service, this would include a “how to”
video. The food waste advisers would also be promoting the service and offering
help and advice to residents, community groups and harder to reach communities.
Communications would increase around the launch and would continue to be
monitored post launch to assess how the new service was being received by
residents.
Leadership Project – the Leadership Group had been
asked to consider how best to engage with harder to reach groups, in particular
the language barriers with the Nepali community and the transient nature of the
military community. Translation of leaflets/videos etc. would be available to
help engage with the Nepali community, this had worked well during the
pandemic. A Nepali speaking Customer Services Unit Adviser would also be
trained and available to offer advice, translations and face to face
engagement, when necessary. It was noted that the Group had liaised with the
military and options for engagement with military personnel included,
information distributed via the Garrison magazine, BFBS radio, welcome packs,
attendance at coffee mornings etc. In addition, as part of the phase two work,
it was advised that consideration would be given to engaging Resident Food
Waste Champions in flatted developments, the Council would work with these
individuals to help get neighbours on board with the new arrangements for
recycling food waste.
Members discussed the presentation and raised a number of
issues, including:
·
Request for a Members “frequently asked
questions” document to help address residents’ concerns
·
Request for a Members Seminar giving a step by
step guide to how phase one will be launched
·
Request for Food Waste Advisers to visit local
neighbourhood shopping centres, such as North Town, to engage with residents
·
Request for an “alert sticker” to be placed on
caddies before delivery stating the start date of the service – this would be
considered and, in addition, it was noted that a sticker would be placed on
general waste bins requesting “no food waste”
·
Joint working with Registered Providers as part
of phase two? – it was noted that conversations with registered providers would
be initiated by the Council to assist with engaging their residents. The
rollout of phase two would be much slower. The engagement of the nominated
resident champions may lead to different solutions being required for different
blocks
·
On the question of alternate weekly collection
on general and recycling waste, it was noted that WRAP had suggested that
councils offering alternate weekly collections got better participation rates
than those offering weekly collections of other waste streams
·
Nepali engagement, it was requested that a
presentation could be given to some of the key members of the Nepali community
to help engagement. It was suggested that Ms Whaymand or Ms Chisnall could
attend a forthcoming Community Leaders meeting to give a presentation
·
Expansion into food waste collection for
commercial services – it was noted that the focus was currently on the domestic
collection of food waste, as part of phases 1 and 2. Commercial services would
be explored in the future
In response to a question, it was noted that by diverting
food waste to recycling streams less domestic waste was being incinerated, this
gap could be backfilled with commercial waste, which was currently going to
landfill.
The Chairman thanked Ms Whaymand and Ms Chisnall for their presentation.