NERF March 2013 The Journey in Northumberland for Kerbside Recycling Sheila Johnson

www.northumberland.gov.uk

Copyright 2009 Northumberland County Council

NERF March 2013

The Journey in Northumberland for Kerbside Recycling

Sheila Johnson

Senior waste management officer



Presentation Outline

• Our service arrangements• Background, pre 2009 • PFI contract • Why a MRF?• Keeping our material in

demand • Methodology to date• How we measure success• Conclusions • Future plans



Our service arrangements – Route for recycling in Northumberland

Materials Recycling Facility at West Sleekburn,

Northumberland



General Waste

General

rubbish

Energy from waste plant at Teesside



Background- Pre 2009

• Districts using different MRFs with varying lengths of contracts – no kerbside sorts

• Target materials from kerbs differ in each district• Pilot areas for box glass collections in small parts of

some districts • Paper, cans and plastic bottles common to all• Cardboard, shredded paper, plastic tubs, foil not

common to all• All districts on AWC with co-mingled v rubbish• Kerbside bins in a variety of colours & uses• Waste team priorities vary in each district• Standard collection weeks vary in each district and also

holiday arrangements differ



PFI & contract requirements

• 28 year PFI Contract signed in 2006 • MRF provided with state of art, highly mechanised

technology• SITA MRF opened in 2009 and started taking co-

mingled material• All county co-mingled going to SITA MRF by 2011• Target materials specified in the contract• Contract specifies maximum percentage of

contamination acceptable in recyclate• Obligation for SITA to market test and profit share

where income exceeds agreed level



Why a MRF and not a kerbside sort?

• Large geographical area, sparse population in 95% of it

• Big travel distances for small tonnages• 240 Litre recycling bins believed to encourage

higher rates of recycling • Infrastructure already in place for co-mingled

collections – vehicles, wheeled bins, manpower.

• 7 highest performing LAs achieving via co-mingled collections in 2011/12



How we can ensure that Northumberland recyclate is in demand

• Work with SITA to ensure MRF working efficiently

• Monitor SITA performance re: market testing• Ensure MRF working in compliance with current

code of practice • Ensure collections follow current code of

practice • Provide residents with recycling advice using a

variety of methods and routes• Explain to residents WHY we restrict target

materials – collection, sort, end market• Removal of glass boxes but increase in

coverage of glass bring sites• Same target materials throughout whole county



Methodology to date • Area recycling officers, and central team officers x 2• Staff training – refuse crews, contact centres etc• Target low performing / high contamination areas• Use of national branding for comms material• Written information via Webpages, leaflets, vehicle

signage, wheels• Bin tagging and monitoring at the kerbside• School visits, competitions, games and workshops• Educational ‘freebies’ eg. Wheels, colour in cotton

bags, resource boxes, mugs • Incentives through partnership working and WANE• Tours of MRF • Public events, talks, unmanned stands• Online postcoded self-serve collection calendars



How we measure efforts and success or failure

• Waste % of rejects from MRF• Tonnages of recyclate• Number of people spoken to• Leaflets etc distributed• Schools visited and children engaged• Red tags issued, letters written and re-offenders • Customer satisfaction surveys• Knowledge on doorsteps• Face to face conversations• Hits to website pages



MRF efficiency %

• MRF efficiency exceeding target



NI 192 - % Household waste Reused/ Recycled/ Composted

• Recovered material rising



NI 191 – Residual household waste KG/ Household

• Total residual waste falling.



Conclusions

• Many different ways needed to get the message over• Old habits die hard• ‘The man in the pub’ is considered more reliable than the

professionals for a source of information• There is definitely a right and a

wrong way of stickering bins

• Training front line staff in target material and why they are targeted is of benefit

• Training crews into which bins should be red or amber tagged ensures a uniform approach



Conclusions…….• If crews are asked to red tag contaminated bins, they

need to see that their efforts are endorced by the back office and managers

• Balance between clear and simple information and enough information is important but may vary from one audience to another

• National branding – Recycle Now – is remembered • Council tax envelopes are a cheap way of distributing

information• Door-stepping is labour intensive• Thank people for doing it right

(Using bin wagon sides)



Future plans

• Doorstepping• County-wide stickering programme• Council tax envelopes to include ‘How to Recycle’

leaflet• More red-tagging and amber-tagging activities• EfL leaflets – word free or word limited where needed • Holiday let properties to receive more information to

address problem of glass contamination in coastal areas

• Further improvements to webpages to enable self-serve information from ipads, mobile phones with particular regard to WHY we restrict target materials

• Use of social media to distribute simple messages on target materials

• Seeking best practice from other LAs and WRAP



Thank you

Sheila Johnson

Senior waste management officer

Documents

NERF March 2013 The Journey in Northumberland for Kerbside Recycling Sheila Johnson