Decision Maker: Forest Heath DC and St Edmundsbury BC Portfolio Holders for Operations
Decision status: Recommendations Approved
Is Key decision?: No
Is subject to call in?: Yes
As part of single council preparations and the harmonisation of services in Forest Heath and St Edmundsbury, a West Suffolk approach to the kerbside collection of post consumer batteries is required. At present the kerbside collection of batteries is only available to residents of St Edmundsbury. The FHDC and SEBC Portfolio Holders for Operations will be asked to make a decision on the proposed approach.
RESOLVED:
That:
(1) the proposal to cease the collection of batteries in the predecessor St Edmundsbury area, as set out in paragraph 2.1.4 of Report No: EXC/SA/19/011, be approved; and
(2) a communications campaign be run to improve the use of other battery recycling facilities in West Suffolk, as set out in paragraph 3.2 of Report No: EXC/SA/19/011.
The FHDC and SEBC Portfolio Holders for Operations consider that of the three options provided in the report, the battery collection scheme in St Edmundsbury should be ceased and for the producer take-back schemes (see section 1.2 of report) to be promoted. There will be minimal financial implications of this approach, and due to the current low take-up of this service (data provided in the report), this would not be a difficult message to communicate in a targeted fashion. The number of accessible battery drop-off points available, which includes a number of recognised supermarkets and retailers, makes this the most sensible option.
If the scheme was to be rolled in the predecessor area of Forest Heath, this has been estimated as costing in the region of £45,000, therefore this has also been an important consideration of the Portfolio Holders in making their decision.
Alternative options considered and rejected for the reasons given were:
Do nothing: continue to provide the service in the St Edmundsbury area only. There would be no cost to this option, however residents would not receive a consistent service across West Suffolk. Without the boundary between St Edmundsbury and Forest Heath in place, residents and front line staff would not have a clear method of identifying if an area was included on the scheme or not.
Introduce the scheme to the Forest Heath area: there would be considerable staff and cost implications to this approach. Estimates based on agency staff delivering and attaching the hooks to each eligible household, including an information pack, are in the region of £45,000.
Publication date: 14/02/2019
Date of decision: 12/02/2019
Effective from: 22/02/2019
Accompanying Documents: