Issue - meetings

That Cabinet approve:

a)      a Capital budget of £1,304,750 financed by the £1,093,049 Capital Grant received in 2024/25 and the remaining £211,701 Revenue Contribution to Capital from the Revenue Grant received for the purchase of 8 food waste collection vehicles and 55,071 bins;

b)      the allocation of the remaining Revenue Grant of £1,215,299 (of the £1,427,000) to the Residential Food Waste Reserve in the event of additional costs; and

c)       the Revenue Budget increase from 2027/28 where possible, funded from Food Waste Reserve, in anticipation of an increase in the establishment by 18 new employees from 2027/28.

The Waste & Recycling Manager presented a report which set out the vehicle requirements to prepare for the domestic food waste collections which were to start from October 2027. The report set out notable changes and timescales for how authorities were to collect waste and recycling with October 2027 being the date by which all households would be able to access food waste collections from the kerbside.

The report referred to the plans that had already been drafted to determine round sizes, vehicle numbers, disposal points, bin colours, staff requirements, and depot requirements. The current disposal option put forward by Nottinghamshire County Council was an Anaerobic Digestion facility in Colwick which was a 44-mile round trip from the depot. To maximise efficiency and to have as much operating time as possible, it was planned to make this journey one a day, therefore 11 tonne vehicles would be required to ensure that all food waste collected from one round each day could be confined to one load. It was proposed to purchase 7 waste vehicles and one spare, based on property numbers and anticipated participation levels.

AGREED (unanimously) that Cabinet approve:

a)       a Capital budget of £1,304,750 financed by the £1,093,049 Capital Grant received in 2024/25 and the remaining £211,701 Revenue Contribution to Capital from the Revenue Grant received for the purchase of 8 food waste collection vehicles and 55,071 bins;

b)       the allocation of the remaining Revenue Grant of £1,215,299 (of the £1,427,000) to the Residential Food Waste Reserve in the event of additional costs; and

c)        the Revenue Budget increase from 2027/28 where possible, funded from Food Waste Reserve, in anticipation of an increase in the establishment by 18 new employees from 2027/28.

Reasons for Decision:

The proposal aligns to Objective 5 of the Community Plan as we develop plans for a weekly food waste collection. There is a statutory requirement to provide a kerbside food waste collection service from October 2027.

Options Considered:

Consideration was given to collect food waste using alternative collection methodology. Collection modelling was carried out to assess the viability of collecting using an entirely new fleet of split bodied vehicles or collecting alongside source separated recycling materials from the kerbside each week in a new fleet of recycling vehicles.

These options were both discounted due to the significant capital expenditure required (estimated to be around £3m and £4m respectively) and the issue of needing to re-establish the 7-year fleet replacement schedule as an entire new fleet that is the same age would otherwise need replacing at the same time.