www.wiltshire.gov.uk
Equality Impact Assessment - Household Recycling Centre Service
1. What is the name of the function, policy or service that is being assessed?
The Household Recycling Centre Service (or HRC service).
2. What are the aims of the function, policy or service? Whose needs it is designed to meet? What are the current priorities?
Under Section 51 (1) (b) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, Wiltshire County Council has a statutory duty to provide sites where residents can take their excess waste for disposal.
Wiltshire currently provides 10 Household Recycling Centres around the county which offer a wide range of containers for the separate collection of recyclable materials, including bulky items, electrical equipment, green waste, soil and rubble from domestic premises. The overall aim of these facilities is to divert a significant amount of recyclable waste from landfill in order to reach both statutory targets and targets contained in the Service Plan.
In 2006/07, the recycling undertaken at these sites contributed 53,471 tonnes (51%) to the total 104,095 tonnes of recyclable waste collected across the county.
The facilities provided are typically large individual skip containers, many of which are accessed by raised walkways. Use of the sites is normally limited to those residents able to drive to the site and able-bodied enough to walk to, and lift items into, the appropriate container.
The delivery of the service is undertaken by the Council’s principal waste management contractor, Hills Waste Solutions.
Current priorities include the promotion of this service to residents in order that participation and performance is maximised, especially in areas now receiving Alternate Weekly Collections (AWC) where residual waste is collected fortnightly rather than weekly.
3. In what ways might this function, policy or service affect some groups of people differently? Might some groups find it harder to access the service? Do some groups have particular needs that are not well met by the current policy or service? Please ensure that you comment against each of the dimensions listed below and where no issues are identified that you state this clearly against the relevant dimension.
Age
- Some very elderly residents might find handling larger household items difficult, particularly moving items from their car to the appropriate container.
- Some elderly residents may no longer drive, limiting their access to these sites.
Disability
- Some disabled residents may not drive, limiting their access to these sites.
- Residents with a physical impediment may face difficulties carrying heavy waste items to the appropriate container on site (some are accessed via metal staircases).
- Due to hazards posed by vehicle movements and operating machinery the HRCs would not be appropriate for visually impaired residents to visit.
- It is very important that different waste streams are not mixed. Therefore each container is clearly signed. However, significant visual impairment may prevent users from following site instructions.
Gender
- No identifiable impact – service is available to all residents able to transport waste to specified locations for disposal and/or recycling.
Race
- Non-English speakers may be unaware of the scope of the recycling opportunities available at the HRCs, or may not be aware of the existence of this service at all, so could miss out on crucial information, i.e. opening times, what can and cannot be accepted on-site, etc.
- The majority of scheme information is provided via leaflets, the internet and in newspaper adverts and editorial. Leaflets may be provided in alternative languages on request.
Religion/belief
No identifiable impact – service is available to all residents able to transport waste to specified locations for disposal and/or recycling.
Sexual orientation
- No identifiable impact – service is available to all residents able to transport waste to specified locations for disposal and/or recycling.
4. What evidence do you have for your judgement? Is there evidence of public concern (e.g. complaints)? Have staff raised concerns? Is there local or national research to suggest that there could be a problem?
Judgements are based on anecdotal evidence gleaned from a small number of telephone enquiries, emails and letters received from members of the public, together with enquiries received by District Council partners and the site operator, Hills Waste Solutions. We are also aware of a growing elderly population, together with an influx of residents from Eastern Europe.
5. How and with whom have you consulted with as part of your assessment? What were the results? Have you published the results of that consultation? If so, where?
No formal consultation with specific user groups (i.e. disabled, elderly, non-English speaking residents, etc) has yet been undertaken to better understand the potential impacts identified above.
It is anticipated that some form of formal consultation will be undertaken as part of the action plan resulting from this impact assessment.
6. If you have found that the function, policy or service might have an adverse impact on a particular group of people, can you justify this?
Without the results of the proposed consultation with disabled and Black and Ethnic Minority user groups it is not possible to say how far reaching these impacts might be. The consultation results will therefore inform any view taken in this regard.
However, in the case of residents without easy access to a vehicle, including some particularly elderly and or disabled residents, they will have access to a Bulky Household Waste collection service from their district council (a charge may be levied) and they are also likely to have access to a kerbside black box recycling collection for their paper, glass, cans and textiles. Their district council is also likely to provide a green waste collection from their home (again, this service may be chargeable). Therefore it is likely that suitable alternatives may already exist.
7. If the impact cannot be justified, what do you intend to do about this? Are there changes that you could introduce which would make the function, policy or service work better for this group of people? Is further research or consultation required?
Further research and consultation is required to establish whether the alternatives available to certain groups of people are reasonable, or whether the HRC service can be modified in any way to improve accessibility.
8. How will you monitor the take-up or impact of the function, policy or service in future?
Once an initial consultation has been undertaken it is anticipated that regular consultations may be carried out in order to monitor the impact of any service changes or enhancements. This will look at the potential alternatives to HRC modifications, such as enhanced accessibility of bulky waste and recycling collections from the relevant service providers.
9. What actions do you plan to take as a result of this EIA? Please include target dates for completion of actions and resource implications where possible.
It is hoped to participate in a wider WCC consultation exercise targeted to the appropriate user groups during 08/09, in order to prevent the target groups from being asked to participate in a high number of surveys relating to different areas of service.
If this is not possible we will endeavour to carry out our own limited consultation by September 2008.
10. If no actions have been identified in section 9 above, please state when a further review of this assessment is planned:
N/A
11. Name of person completing form:
Waste Development Manager
Date assessment completed:
28/11/2007
12. Name of senior manager approving assessment:
Assistant Director Operations
Date assessment approved by senior manager:
10/12/2007
Contact Details
By Post
Equality & Diversity Team
Wiltshire County Council
County Hall
Bythesea Road
Trowbridge
Wiltshire
BA14 8JN
By Email
By Telephone
01225 713510
By Fax
01225 713117
