Report of the Head of Environmental Development.

In December 2011 CEB approved a Sustainability Strategy for Oxford.  The Sustainability Strategy focuses on a number of core themes including climate change flooding, land quality and managing our waste.

This report presents and recommends a policy linked to the Sustainability Strategy which is the Waste and Recycling Strategy for Oxford.  The Sustainability Strategy was approved following public consultation.  As the Waste and Recycling Strategy is subordinate it is not proposed to hold a public consultation on this strategy.

City Executive Board is recommended to approve the Waste and Recycling Strategy for adoption

The Head of Environmental Development submitted a report (previously circulated, now appended). The Board also had before it a Scrutiny report (previously circulated, now appended) on the subject. 

The Chair of the Scrutiny Committee spoke to the Scrutiny report.  He referred to the six recommendations in the report and paid tribute to the work of the recycling panel in pre-scrutinising the Waste Strategy report and formulating constructive recommendations.

The Board member commended each of the recommendations to the Board save for recommendation 2 (costing pre-scrutiny and diversion of recyclable for household waste).  He considered that not to be financially viable.

Resolved:-

(1)  That the Waste and Recycling Strategy that forms Appendix 1 to the report be adopted as a strategy within the Sustainable Strategy for Oxford policy framework subject to the Waste and Recycling Strategy’s Vision making it clear that waste was a resource and a commodity from which the Council could generate income, and that the Council should continually be looking for further opportunities to benefit financially from the waste that the City produces;

(2)  In pursuance of the Strategy, to agree:-

(a)  to provide to the Scrutiny Committee more detailed information on the costing and feasibility for the options that had been considered to recycle food from flats alongside the details of the current capital bid;

(b)  more actively to use the waste enforcement penalties to convince residents who do not present waste in the manner required;

(c)  to investigate, through the Oxfordshire Waste Partnership, local opportunities to reduce excess packaging and the use of plastic bags;

(d)  to take all opportunities to promote the benefits of food waste separation to commercial customers and investigate opportunities to offer incentives to new business customers.