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WASTE MANAGEMENT SERVICE

Who we are and what well do

2010/11 to 2012/13

www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk

Contents Page
Whats in our plan?

Introduction How Waste Works Our Planning Context The Big Picture Our Priorities Our Purpose Our Areas of Work (our jobs) Our Effect Your Money Our Service Our Plan for Action Useful Information

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Introduction
Our service and what we do - from our Head of Service, Gifford Lewis
Hello, This document is our plan for the next few years. It sets out who we are, what we stand for, and what we want to achieve. Were a small service of about 20 staff, but we have a big remit managing (among other things) household waste for the whole of Cambridgeshire, in partnership with the District Councils. Waste is a costly business, and our planning (in documents like this one) is a part of making sure we get it right. You can tell us if we are or not, by calling 0345 045 5200. Right to us means managing waste responsibly, both in terms of looking after the environment and making best use of your money. Im very proud of what weve achieved with your help were consistently one of the best counties for recycling and composting in the whole country. Thats a credit to all of you that have changed what you do with your rubbish. As ever though, theres more work to do, and were committed to continuing to make it as easy as possible for you to do the right thing. We cant do it on our own we need your continued support and efforts. As well as managing current waste, its our responsibility to prepare for the extra waste created by a county which, despite the current economic situation, is set to be the fastest growing in the UK. Please have a read of our plan, where weve set out what well be doing for the County. I look forward to continuing our work with you. Best wishes,

Gifford

www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk

How Waste and Recycling Works

Collection, processing and disposal in Cambridgeshire

Your District Council collects your waste

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We (the County Council) dispose of your waste

www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk

Our Planning Context

Who else has a plan that influences our plan? Where do we fit in the local and national planning sequence?

European/ Global

Waste Partnership
National

Integrated Plan

Waste Management Our Plan

Team and individual action plans

Regional Local Internal

www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk

The Big Picture

Our service in Cambridgeshire, in the East of England, in the United Kingdom, in Europe and in the World
What we have to do Dispose of waste. We have a statutory duty, enshrined in law, to dispose of all municipal waste produced in the County (thats household and some commercial waste collected by your District Councils). We also have a duty to report performance statistics to government about our waste (the National Indicators). Stop burying that waste in the ground. The European Commission, and our own central government Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) set targets for landfill (and recycling), tax for landfill, and allowances for landfill (and heavy fines for exceeding them). The cost (both financial and environmental, in terms of carbon and climate change) of landfill means that we must do as little of it as possible, diverting waste through recycling, composting and waste prevention. Build sites and facilities to handle waste (our waste infrastructure). The growth of the county (as defined in national and regional strategies) will bring more houses, more people, and more rubbish so well have to build more recycling centres (and weve built a huge sorting/composting plant), to manage. What we choose to do as well Contribute to the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Waste Partnership, under its JMWMS (Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy), and contribute to achieving the objectives of our new LAA (Local Area Agreement), known as Cambridgeshire Together; the Countys highest-level partnership, where all public sector organisations come together to improve services and support communities in the County. Contribute to achieving the objectives of our Council Integrated Plan, and contribute to the new CAA Comprehensive Area Assessment, critical performance indicators and the new Place Survey. Work with charitable, voluntary and community groups to promote waste prevention, reuse and recycling, through education.

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Our Priorities
The areas we are most focused on in the coming years
The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Waste Partnership has set out what it wants to achieve in its Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy (JMWMS). That strategy has three key areas of focus for the next few years. We, as the County Council (the Waste Disposal Authority), take our high-level direction, in part, from the Partnership and the Partnerships strategy. When we combine what the strategy wants with our statutory duties (our legal and legislative obligations), we get the package of work that were responsible for. So our priorities for the coming year are a combination of excellent performance in our statutory duties, and focused work on the three themes weve committed to improving upon.
CAMBS AND PBORO WASTE PARTNERSHIP JOINT MUNICIPAL WASTE MANAGEMENT STRATEGY PROMOTE WASTE PREVENTION: TACKLE THE PRODUCTION OF WASTE AT SOURCE

OUR STATUTORY DUTIES

IMPROVE HOUSEHOLD DRY RECYCLING RATE

IMPROVE TRADE AND BUSINESS RECYCLING RATE

Household Waste Disposal Provision of sites for public to bring bulky household waste Data reporting to government Abandoned vehicle disposal Closed landfill maintenance

OUR WORK

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Our Purpose
What we want our service to be
From our planning context (Page 5), we know what else is happening regionally and nationally, so we want to fit ourselves into the bigger picture. We capture the sense of what we want to be, based on what we have to do, and what we choose to do - fitting ourselves into and around the plans of other groups or organisations. Relevant Cambridgeshire Together priorities: Priority 1: Managing Growth building waste infrastructure for existing and new communities Priority 3: Environmental Sustainability reducing our carbon footprint, reducing the amount of waste produced Relevant Cambridgeshire County Council priorities: Strategic Objective 3: Managing and delivering the growth and development of sustainable communities Strategic Objective 5: Meeting the challenges of climate change and enhancing the natural environment Taken with the Councils core values (Accountability, Respect, Integrity, Value for Money, Excellence, Equity), the statement below captures what we want to achieve, and what you can expect from our service:

Cambridgeshire County Council - Waste Management Service; Providing excellent, value for money waste management for our communities, now and in the future

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Our Areas of Work

What we want to achieve
Job 1 Move up the waste hierarchy.

Waste disposal can be thought of as a hierarchy, with dumping waste in landfill at the bottom, and preventing waste in the first place at the top. The further we go up the hierarchy, the better it is environmentally and financially. As recyclers, we find ourselves halfway up. Now that we have good systems in place for recycling our waste once it exists, we need to move further up the hierarchy toward prevention. PARTNERSHIP PRIORITY WASTE PREVENTION Job 2 Manage and get the best from our Waste PFI (Private Finance Initiative) contract. PFI makes high-tech, expensive waste management facilities affordable. Our 28-year PFI with private sector contractor Donarbon includes the management of all your Recycling Centres, and has allowed us to build and run a new MBT (Mechanical Biological Treatment) waste plant. The facility sorts all black bag household waste (whats left after householders have taken out their recycling and green waste). The plant recovers as much extra recyclable/compostable material out of the residual waste as possible. It is not a substitute for residents sorting their own recycling. Instead, its a way of taking the waste thats left and getting something useful out of it (as opposed to burying it at huge cost). PARTNERSHIP PRIORITY - HOUSEHOLD RECYCLING

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Our Areas of Work

Job 3 In response to the demands of our growing County, build new waste infrastructure, and improve existing sites. Existing and new communities need waste facilities to support them. We are building new Recycling Centres to help residents dispose of bulky household waste, and new waste transfer and treatment facilities to deal with all the waste we manage. Protecting the environment both now and in the future means we need to put a lot of thought into the design and location for new sites. At Recycling Centres, we design each site to make it easy and safe for people to use, and make it a place where people can come for information about their waste. Where possible, we will support voluntary and local community waste activities at our sites. PARTNERSHIP PRIORITY - HOUSEHOLD RECYCLING Job 4 Provide excellent customer service in all that we do, working with residents, listening and responding to their views. Wherever customer contact occurs, we work continuously to improve the experience. The quality of customer service provided at our Recycling Centres is of great importance to us. We challenge ourselves to be better, with mystery shoppers in all our services, user testing and regular surveys. Improvements to web and telephone services are informed by our service monitoring. The opinions and needs of residents are key when developing any new service, and in the management of our existing facilities and operations. We aim to recycle new types of waste at our sites when it is financially and environmentally possible to do so, to ensure the broadest possible service for residents. PARTNERSHIP PRIORITY HOUSEHOLD RECYCLING

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Our Areas of Work

Job 5 Support the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Waste Partnership, and its associated plans and strategy. We are fully committed to doing extra work, beyond our statutory day job, through our Waste Partnership. The Partnership has set priorities for the coming years; to improve trade waste recycling, to improve household recycling, and to promote waste prevention. We will commit Council money and time to Partnership projects that are focused on driving improvement in these priority areas. PARTNERSHIP PRIORITY - HOUSEHOLD RECYCLING, TRADE WASTE RECYCLING, WASTE PREVENTION Job 6 Encourage green behaviour in Cambridgeshires communities. We are using every opportunity to meet the challenges of climate change and protect the environment. Our two Recycling Buses can reach over 10,000 school children every year, tying waste issues into their curriculum. We include education provision at our waste sites particularly the MBT, where a dedicated education facility provides a focus for all visitors (schools, community groups, and businesses). We will work with and through voluntary, community and charitable organisations where possible, for both consultations and delivery of work. Working with our Waste partnership, we will raise awareness of waste issues through targeted campaigning, advertising and publicity - ensuring we talk to hard-to-reach groups, and maintaining our own profile as the people to speak to about waste. PARTNERSHIP PRIORITY WASTE PREVENTION, HOUSEHOLD RECYCLING, TRADE WASTE RECYCLING

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Our Areas of Work

Job 7 Help our Council improve its performance.

We will support our colleagues as they work to ensure that the Councils own business waste is managed in an environmentally friendly way leading by example across the whole Council; advising on the law, national developments, and promoting good practice. We will contribute fully to the assessment of the Councils carbon footprint, and our part in it, and look for ways to reduce our impact including the Councils mileage reduction target. We will support the Councils commitments in the Local Area Agreement; supporting County growth whilst preserving the environment and our existing communities. We will also act at a national level lobbying and influencing policy, and sharing our local experiences for the benefit of national colleagues. We will also support the Councils financial ambitions, striving for value for money and efficiency in all our spending. We will maximise our financial opportunities, particularly in the present challenging economic context. We will pay our suppliers on time (above and beyond council targets) and will manage the budget actively and accurately, ensuring maximum control and visibility. PARTNERSHIP PRIORITY TRADE RECYLING/WASTE PREVENTION

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Our Effect (and how well measure it)

Monitoring our performance

Performance Indicator (Waste) Residual waste arising per household (kg) Household waste recycled and composted total H/H waste rcyld & cmpstd CCC Recycling Centres Municipal waste landfilled Total waste arising per person (kg) Business Mileage

2002/03 Historic* *** 24.5% 55.9% 79.0% 519 -

2006/07 Actual *** 48.5% 55.6% 54.2% 520 -

2007/08 Actual *** 50.5% 56.0% 49.4% 511 -

2008/09 Actual 569 51.5% 58.2% 48.0% 492 -

2009/10 Actual 537 51.3% 60.3% TBC 480 21,236

2010/11 Target 519 52.5% 63% 36% 470 20,528

2011/12 Target 506 59%** 64% 33% 465 19,820

2012/13 Target 496 59% 65% 33% 460 19,112

*indicating performance progress relative to a 2002 starting point **including the recovery of materials from the MBT facility ***indicator not in use, was then previous Best Value Performance Indicator (BVPI) set

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Our Effect (so far)

Monitoring our performance
Where Your Waste Has Gone, Since 2003
80% 70% 60% 50% Tonnes Landfilled 40% 30% 20% 10% 0%
Mar03 Jun03 Sep-0 3 Dec03 Mar04 Jun04 Sep04 Dec04 Mar05 Jun05 Sep-0 5 Dec05 Mar06 Jun06 Sep06 Dec06 Mar07 Jun07 Sep-0 7 Dec07 Mar08 Jun08 Sep-0 8 Dec08 Mar09 Jun09 Sep09 Dec09 Mar10
530 520 510 500 490 480 470 460
Jul-0 6 Sep-0 6 Nov06 Mar05 May05 Jul-0 5 Sep-0 5 Nov05 Jul-0 7 Sep07 Jul-0 8 Sep-0 8 Nov08 May09 Jul-0 9 Sep09 Jan-0 7 Mar07 May07 Jan-0 8 Mar08 May08 Jan-0 6 Mar06 May06 Nov07 Jan-0 9 Mar09

Amount of Waste Per Person, Since 2005

Composted Recycled

Tonnes

The fraction of the waste that goes to landfill has reduced significantly, from 75% in 2003 to less than half now. This is due to the rise in composting and recycling diverting waste from being buried in the ground, towards beneficial uses.

This graph shows how the average person in Cambridgeshire is producing less waste now than five years ago. That change in peoples behaviour means less waste in total to manage, less landfill, and a better deal for the environment. We need to keep that trend going.

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Your Money
Where it goes, and what we spend it on
The County Council currently spends around 23,000,000 (23 million pounds) each year on your Waste Management Service. Inevitably, our biggest costs by far are for waste disposal and treatment - and the landfill tax we incur for burying waste in the ground. Recycling and diversion of waste from landfill is essential, so that we can all avoid the financial penalties.

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Our Service
Cambridgeshire County Council Waste Management Service and the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Waste Partnership

BernardLewis Gifford Warr Head of Waste Head Waste Management Management

Waste Partnership Coordinator

Waste Contracts Manager

Waste Infrastructure Manager

Waste Business Manager

Recycling Coordination Officer Environmental Action Cordinator

Recycling Bus Recycling Bus Manager Managers x2 Waste Operations Manager

Infrastructure Project Manager

Communications & Media Manager

Assistant Business Manager

Business Officer

Project Officer

Business Support Officer

Business Assistant

Waste Policy & Delivery Officer

Contract Monitoring Officer Waste Technical Officer

Waste Campaigns Officer

Business Support Assistant Admin Assistant

Business Support Officer

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Our Service
Our partners in service delivery
Our main contractor is Donarbon Waste Management Ltd. They handle all the black bag household waste that the District Councils collect, along with most of your green/garden waste, and some of your dry recycling (particularly the material you take to our Recycling Centres). They run our waste treatment facility at their site in Waterbeach (on the A10 just north of Cambridge). Donarbon were chosen for the 28 year contract. We are proud to be working with a local, family-owned enterprise, with excellent links to, and standing within, the community. They are just as committed to reducing our reliance on landfill as we are, and we work closely together in a partnership that goes beyond a normal contractual relationship.

We also work with Cambridgeshires District Councils, and Peterborough City Council (an independent unitary local authority, responsible for both waste collection and waste disposal). Together, in the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Waste Partnership, we undertake additional project work, sharing our knowledge, expertise and ideas, for a unified and consistent approach to waste management for residents.

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Our Plan for Action

Job 1 move up the waste hierarchy

Examples of key activities for us in this job are:

producing a new Reuse Strategy that will define our whole approach to increasing reuse activity. As strong recyclers, we need to do the preparation and planning on actions that will support progress to this higher rung on the waste hierarchy exploring options for the beneficial use of products from our MBT facility. Currently the compost-like-output will be landfilled; we must either lobby government to relax restrictions for its use on land, or else divert the material to another destination. Either way, we stop landfilling, and so move up the waste hierarchy supporting Cradle to Cradle; a major initiative in the eastern region designed to completely change the way we produce and consume resources. All other natural process are circular systems, with no end waste; human behaviours are the only processes in nature that have a defined beginning, and waste products at the end (Cradle to Grave) well aim to support a change to that thinking, through this project

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Our Plan for Action

Job 2 - Manage our Waste PFI (Private Finance Initiative) contract.

Examples of key activities for us in this job are:

managing the contract as an intelligent client; that means being a well-informed customer that understands what theyre supposed to get, and knows in detail how well things are going developing data models and inspection approaches; allowing us to monitor and measure the performance of the contract, and manage the significant quantities of money involved in the contract linking up our IT system with the contractors system; giving us the best possible handle on contract information running a design and build project for our new Education Centre at the MBT; delivering a high-quality facility that will offer a great experience to visitors, with real benefits in terms of knowledge and waste behaviour

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Our Plan for Action

Job 3 - Build new waste infrastructure, and improve existing sites.

Examples of key activities for us in this job are: continuing with our immediate build-plan; a new Recycling Centre in Witchford for East Cambridgeshire, site upgrades at Thriplow and Whittlesey, and enhancements to our new facility in St. Neots reviewing our 2006 Recycling Centre Strategy; re-visiting our approach to the construction of new waste infrastructure over the coming decade (and beyond) delivering that new strategy; locating, designing and building new recycling centres and other waste infrastructure changing the framework contract through which we buy-in consultants on key pieces of work; well look to get even better for value for money and service, from the best suppliers supporting our Council colleagues in the Minerals and Waste Planning Authority. We must apply for build permission as any other developer would the location of our sites requires close working to ensure our ambitions fit their guidance and requirements. Well also continue to engage in the bigger picture of all new growth and development, so that waste issues are included from the start in any strategy

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Our Plan for Action

Job 4 - Provide excellent customer service, working with residents, listening and responding to their views.

Examples of key activities for us in this job are:

conducting a routine review of our operational policies relating to our Recycling Centres; opening times, sanctions on abusive/threatening behaviour, materials collected and similar themes doing extensive user testing, opinion polls and surveys; assessing our customer service and also acting as mystery shoppers to sample the experience for ourselves developing our website; adding more and better information, and making it easier to find and access remediating old waste facilities, so they can benefit the local community; for example attempting to win grant funding to turn our closed landfill at Stanground into a public green space

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Our Plan for Action

Job 5 - Support the Waste Partnership, and its associated plans and strategy.

Examples of key activities for us in this job are:

exploring options to enhance our waste partnership; working with Defra to consider an Advanced Waste Partnership model revisiting our PFI Partnering Agreement; the document that confirms the commitments of partners to each other in support of our PFI contract renewing or re-tendering the Abandoned Vehicles contract, along with our District Councils continuing to support District Council kerbside services; improving recycling rates and reducing landfill enhancing our IT systems to better support the partnership effort; saving processing time and increasing data quality

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Our Plan for Action

Job 6 - Encourage green behaviour in Cambridgeshires communities.

Examples of key activities for us in this job are:

promoting our MBT Education Centre, once completed; ensuring community groups and schools know that its there, and understand what it can offer them campaigning and marketing; pushing reuse through charities, recycling (on key materials like cardboard) and waste prevention (with particular focus on food and kitchen bins) laying out a Business Plan for our Recycling Buses; increasing the number of schools we reach and ensuring that as many customers as possible know what we can offer directing our Waste film, which will layout the whole process of waste management in Cambridgeshire, from door to processing, for educational purposes

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Our Plan for Action

Job 7 - Help our own Council improve its performance.

Examples of key activities for us in this job are: continuing management of workplace and on-site Health and Safety; keeping our staff, and the public, safe managing public money; getting the best deal in our contracts and purchasing, taking financial opportunities that support our expenditure, and managing future risks to our budgets well in advance, to minimise impacts working in national professional networks; shaping government policy, responding to consultations, sharing best approaches and building supportive relationships doing the thinking for the bigger picture of sustainable construction and localised energy generation across the Council; bringing those general principles back and applying them in Waste Management delivering the organisations duty to manage closed landfills; seeking beneficial use where possible

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Useful Information
Who else has a plan that influences ours, or a plan that we contribute to?

Vision for Cambridgeshire http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/council/partnerships/LAA/ Cambridgeshire County Council Vision, Objectives, Principles and Priorities (Integrated Plan) http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/council/policies/integratedplanandpolicyframework.htm Cambridgeshire Waste Local Plan http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/environment/planning/policies/waste+local+plan.htm Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Minerals and Waste Plan (Local Development Plan) To be adopted in 2011. http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/environment/planning/mineralswasteframework/ Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy Waste Partnership http://www.recap.co.uk/information/joint-municipal-waste-management-strategy-2008.aspx Cambridgeshire County Council Climate Change Strategy http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/C23602AD-4BDA-4731-827BD35E88C20860/0/ClimateChangeStrategyfull.pdf

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Single Equality Strategy http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/23E380B6-E9CF-4FF8-A2B19FF2766D21F2/0/SingleEqualityStrategyA4.pdf People Strategy http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/B1FEF3C2-ECD0-426B-807C409ECDCF01B4/0/InternetVersionCCCPeopleStrategy20062010.pdf East of England Planning http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/environment/planning/regional/ Government Office for the East of England (GO-East) http://www.gos.gov.uk/goeast/environment_and_rural/waste/?a=42496 DEFRA Waste Strategy http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/waste/strategy/index.htm Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) Business Plan http://www.wrap.org.uk/downloads/SummaryPlan2008_11.86d37f4f.5483.pdf

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