Agenda item

C. Thorpe presented the Environment Q3 Report..

C. Thorpe explained that this would only be a brief overview as everything was contained in the annual review. He addressed sickness figures, and said that 42% was gastro-intestinal, and more welfare facilities are being installed at Cupid Green and also new vehicles with new hand wash basins which should improve the situation, he added that 9% was muscular-skeletal and a lot of work is being done on manual handling, including a consultant working with all the crews to improve this.

The report was approved

C. Thorpe presented the CSG and Waste Annual Review.

C.Thorpe explained that the report went back a year to the last big Spring clean. He went on to say that there was a clothes swap event which was successful, and the compost give-away was very popular and the compost went within two hours.

C. Thorpe announced that following the food waste trial going to cabinet the collection would be starting in April for all flats in the borough. He then went through the other items on the report.

Cllr Birnie asked why the Community Champion awards are coming to an end this year and C. Thorpe explained that the same people are receiving the awards year after year and so something different will be tried, probably involving businesses.

Cllr Ransley said that she was interested in the part of the report that spoke about going into schools, particularly the part about the local council recycling clear plastic bottles to build greenhouses.

C. Thorpe said that Sunnyside Trust has been helped in this way as well.

Cllr Timmis asked if the signs on the A41 have made any difference in terms of littering.

C. Thorpe replied that at the moment it is too early to tell.

Cllr Timmis then went on to ask about food waste and said that as we are now going into schools to make children more aware, what about Restaurants in the area, they have no separate food waste and yet they must generate a lot so they should also be encouraged not to waste food but to use it. Cllr Timmis also asked about food collection for the restaurants.

C. Thorpe replied that there are food waste collectors out there and explained that at present were are setting up a charging mechanism for our customers that we are providing a service for and then further down the line we will be looking at the whole of our commercial recycling service and food may be one of those items that we look at.

Cllr Hicks asked what a Bring Site was, and asked for more information about the  Roman Mound that has been uncovered.

C. Thorpe replied that it is one of the community sites that you will find mainly in neighbourhood precincts etc., there are 27 of them at present. He explained that the Roman Mound had become overgrown with trees and hedges so it was cleared in order that the public could see it.

Cllr Anderson remarked that he thought the signs along the A41 were excellent and highly visible.

Cllr Howard said that she had heard some of the bins were cracking and wondered how long they last.

C. Thorpe responded that there has been a problem with the blue-lidded bins not lasting as long as the previous ones used and that he is in discussion with the manufacturers.

The Chairman thanked C.Thorpe for an excellent report.

The report was approved.