There is “some indication” that disruption to collection services is easing as the rate of staff absences begins to fall.
However, fly-tipping has increased in just over half of local authority areas as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, although there are some reporting no change or even reductions.
The results come from the second survey conducted by ADEPT – the Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning and Transport.
Of more than 250 local authorities which responded, this week’s survey suggested that 89% councils have reported that residual waste collections are operating as normal with no disruption, compared with 83% last week.
With dry recycling, 76% are now operating a normal service, up from 73%.
Meanwhile, food and garden waste recycling collections operating as normal have also increased, but more councils have halted bulky waste collections.
The survey is the second carried out by ADEPT, following it’s first one published last week for the week commencing 30 March (see letsrecycle.com story).
Staff absence
This comes as staff absence rates have shown a slight decline, with 6% of respondents seeing no impact of this, up from 5% from last week. Those seeing a reduction of staffing levels of between 40-60% has also dropped by 2%, to just 1% of respondents.
Disposal services
There has also been a large jump in the rate of materials recycling facilities (MRFs) which are operating as normal, with 80% falling under this category compared with 43% last week.
Only 1% of MRFs were listed as not available this week, compared with 46% which were “withdrawn” last week.
However, this comes as the number of Energy from Waste (EfW) plants operating as usal has fallen by 11%, with 86% now fully operational this week, with 13% seeing minor disruption and 1% moderately impacted.
Food waste
While food waste collections are still suffering there has been a reductio in the number of councils reporting that they have withdrawn the service, from 9% to 7% .
For the week commencing 6 April, 71% were reporting a normal service, up from 63%, while 13% had minor disruption, down from 18%.
HWRCs
This week’s survey showed that more than 90% of Household Waste and Recycling Centres (HWRCs) have now been closed, up from 77%.
However, this comes as Defra today encouraged councils to keep them open (see letsrecycle.com story).
A further 8% have kept some open but with severe disruption, 2% with moderate disruption and none operating as normal.
Last week, the survey suggested that 1% of respondents were operating them as normal, 1% with minor disruption and 21% were severely disrupted.
With regards to fly-tipping, 36% of respondents have seen no impact, 30% have seen a 0-20% increase and a 22% have seen an increase of more than 20%.
Organisations
The survey has been compiled by ADEPT with the involvement of the Local Authority Recycling Advisory committee (LARAC), the Local Government Association (LGA) and the National Association of Waste Disposal Officers (NAWDO).
“The emerging picture for waste services is encouraging”
The groups have “combined forces” to understand the changing status of waste services across England, and the continuing impacts of Covid-19.
Speaking on behalf of these key networks Ian Fielding, chair of ADEPT’s Waste Group said: “I am grateful to all the local authorities who took the time to complete the survey. The emerging picture for waste services is encouraging, particularly as we can see slightly less impact on collections despite local authorities continuing to suffer high levels of absence and having more household waste and recycling to manage.
“It is disappointing to see an increase in fly tipping, although this is by no means universal and fly tipping clearance services are running almost as normal. We would encourage householders to check that anyone offering to remove their bulky waste is licensed to do so.”
Useful links
The survey results can be seen in full here.
The post Disruption to waste services ‘easing’, survey finds appeared first on letsrecycle.com.
Source: letsrecycle.com Waste Managment
