Agenda item

The Committee had invited local representatives from Friends of the Earth (FoE) Havering to attend, following a letter that had been sent to all Councillors. FoE raised concerns in relation to Recycling in Flats and Energy Saving Measures they felt the Council should be undertaking.  The representatives stated they understood the financial pressures on the Council; however they felt that there could be a real improvement made around recycling in low and high rise blocks. This would minimise the amount of waste going to landfill, given that the landfill tax would only increase. Friends of the Earth stated that it was their understanding that there was no doorstep collection available for residents of flats. They also felt there was a lack of education between staff and tenants about recycling.

Members explained that the Committee had carried out a lot of work on recycling and explained about the visits they had carried out to Shanks and other sites where the recycling is taken.

An officer informed the Committee that there were doorstep collections for flats and tabled a number of leaflets, both on recycling generally and also specifically for flat recycling.  The scheme started in 2005/6 and had grown, so that all flats in Havering now received a recycling service.  The officer agreed that the landfill tax would be increasing, however Havering was focussed on this, and had two plants which diverted between 500,000 – 600,000 tonnes of waste, which was in the region of 75% of waste being diverted.  This was one of the largest diversion rates in the country.

The FoE also raised concerns about the predicted 2º rise in temperature of the earth by 2015. This needed to be reduced by 2050, and therefore emissions needed to be cut.  The FOE representatives referred to the Havering Climate Change Strategy, but felt this did not address all issues.  They had been working with Redbridge in the past, which had reviewed all Council services and had saved £500,000.  This was through Transport, Energy and Housing.  Officers stated that the Havering Transport Fleet had been reduced by 20% plus alternative vehicles had been trialled including LPG and natural gas.  Officers would be interested in seeing the Redbridge paper as it was felt that there needed to be a lot of capital investment to achieve so many savings.  Other initiatives that had been put in place from an energy efficiency view included LED lighting in all main council buildings, refitting of street lighting with LEDs and Solar Panels being used on Central Depot, MyPlace and Elm Park Library.  Solar Thermal heating was also being introduced in the Leisure Centres.

Officers stated that each London Borough has a different amount of capital and other boroughs also have a larger amount of housing stock which could be sold for further capital.  A Member stated that they had read in a recent newspaper article that scientists had discovered the actual temperature of the world had not increase in the last 16 years, and that it is likely in the 2020s that the both the Pacific and Atlantic cycle will be cold at the same time, therefore the world temperature may decline as it did in the Forties.  However following this there is likely to be another warming trend that follows.

The representatives of FoE felt that all new build developments should include solar panels as part of the construction.  Members stated that planning was legislated by Government and was not something that Havering could do in isolation. The Committee agreed that CO2 is necessary for plants to live, however there was also manmade CO2, which was harmful, although in the bigger picture this was very minimal.

The Committee thanked the representatives from Friends of the Earth for attending the meeting and sharing their concerns and hoped that they could see that Havering were carrying out a number of measures that would contribute towards the Climate Change Strategy.

The Head of Streetcare agreed to meet, at a later date, with the representatives from Friends of the Earth to discuss the recycling measures & performance in flats.