www.wiltshire.gov.uk
Equality Impact Assessment - Kerbside Recycling
1. What is the name of the function, policy or service that is being assessed?
The Kerbside Recycling Service (or Black Box Collection).
2. What are the aims of the function, policy or service? Whose needs it is designed to meet? What are the current priorities?
The service provides a fortnightly collection of dry recyclables (glass, paper, cans, textiles and foil) from most domestic households in Wiltshire. The overall aim is to divert a significant proportion of recyclable waste from landfill in order to reach both statutory targets and targets contained in the Service Plan.
The black box collection service has been designed to allow the hand sorting of materials at the kerbside in order to maintain high quality recyclates by reducing the potential for cross contamination. This is achieved by using an “industry standard” 55 litre recycling box with lid which residents use to store dry recyclables until collection day at which time it is placed out on the kerbside for collection.
The service is undertaken by the Council’s principal waste management contractor, Hills Waste Solutions in 3 Wiltshire districts: North Wiltshire, West Wiltshire and Salisbury District. Kennet receives the same service from it’s own district council, which acts as a sub-contractor to Hills.
Current priorities include the promotion of this service to residents in order that participation 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
- Elderly residents could have difficulty carrying a full recycling box to the kerbside – an “Assisted Collection” is available in these circumstances. Also, smaller plastic “hand baskets” are also made available in such cases which are easier to lift and carry.
- Majority of scheme information, particularly the collection calendar, is provided via printed leaflets. Visually impaired residents could have difficulty reading the information provided. More information is being made available via the Wiltshire Waste Partnership website (www.recycleforwiltshire.com). Some elderly residents may not have access to the internet.
Disability
- A resident with a physical disability could have difficulty lifting and carrying a full recycling box to the kerbside (or other agreed collection point). An “assisted collection” scheme is in operation whereby any residents experiencing difficulties in tendering their recyclables can have their recyclable materials collected from a more suitable location, i.e. by front or back door. In addition, smaller recycling “baskets” are available which are easier to lift and carry than black boxes.
- Majority of scheme information is provided via leaflets or via the Wiltshire Waste partnership website (www.recycleforwiltshire.com). Visually impaired / blind residents could have difficulty reading the leaflet.
Gender
- No identifiable impact – service available to all residents on an area by area basis.
Race
- Non-English speakers may be unaware of the scope of the recycling scheme and could miss out on crucial information, i.e. collection days, the different types of materials collected, importance of the scheme in helping them cope with AWC schemes for residual waste, etc. Majority of scheme information is provided via leaflets, although this is available in different languages on request.
Religion/belief
- No identifiable impact – service available to all residents on an area by area basis.
Sexual orientation
- No identifiable impact – service available to all residents on an area by area basis.
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 migrant workers 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.
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 kerbside recycling service can be modified in order to further 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 also look at the relationship between black box collections and existing district council waste collections which will also have provision for assisted collections of general waste.
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
