Decision details

The purpose of this report is to inform the Executive about the Government’s Waste and Resources Strategy and to agree how the Council will respond to the related consultations.

The Government published its Resources and Waste Strategy for England on 18 December 2018.  The Strategy sets out how the country will preserve material resources by minimising waste, promoting resource efficiency and moving towards a circular economy.  The aim is to achieve a recycling rate in England of 65% by 2035.

Four consultations relating to the strategy were released by DEFRA on 18 February 2019, with a 12-week consultation period.  They cover Deposit Return Schemes (DRS); Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR); Consistency in collection; and the proposed tax on plastic packaging.  A summary of the key proposals is included in the report.

There are a total of 286 questions across the four separate consultation documents.  These cover a very wide range of varied and complex issues that affect both local authorities and business.  The deadline for submitting the responses to the consultations is 13 May 2019, except for the plastics tax consultation, which is 12 May 2019.

Given the timescales and the range of issues, the proposal is to seek Executive approval to delegate authority to the Head of Streetscene, following consultation with the Executive Member for Streetscene, to prepare and submit the response from the Council.

All Members were invited to attend the Streetscene Scrutiny Panel meeting on 14 March 2019 which considered the Resources and Waste Strategy consultations.

The Members’ comments from the meeting have been collated and attached to this report as Appendix A and will be incorporated into the Council’s response to the consultations.

RESOLVED that the Executive agrees to delegate authority to the Head of Streetscene, following consultation with the Executive Member for Streetscene, to submit the response to the consultations on behalf of the Council.