Agenda item

            The Committee considered the following report:

1.0            Purpose of Report or Summary of main Issues

1.1       To provide an update to People and Communities Committee on the work being conducted in relation to the overfilled bins and bin liner collection issues (Bin Safety Campaign).

2.0       Recommendations

The Committee is requested to note the contents of this report.

3.0       Main report

Key Issues

3.1       Members will recall this matter was discussed in June and members requested that updates were presented to P&C Committee at the August and September meetings.

This report provides an update to members on progress to date in relation to the campaign.

3.2       It should be noted that Corporate Communications have supported and continue to provide support and resource to Resources and Fleet the Service through the external and internal communications and awareness raising elements of the plan. The Project team engage with Corporate Communications regularly around the campaign, resident feedback and progress.

3.3       The Project Team and their Resource Advisor colleagues within Waste Management have produced an engagement plan based on the Implementation and Communications Plan approved by Council.

3.4       Monday 4 August – the beginning of Amber tagging bedding in period for 8 weeks. Collections continue as normal (i.e. overfilled bins and bins with liners still collected) with warning tag placed on bins and reporting by crews. Resource Advisor Teams on ground raising awareness and messaging.

3.5       Monday 29 September – planned start date for the beginning of Red tagging collecting strictly to policy phase. Overfilled containers will be tagged and will not collect, and instances reported. Temporary additional Special Waste Collection Operational teams (SWCO) to be engaged Resource Teams, OSS and Enforcement Teams will be deployed to targeting remaining hot spot areas.

3.6       Project Team progress as at time of writing of this update report:

Overfilled and lined Bins – Domestic and Commercial Waste

3.7       The following actions are ongoing or scheduled to be conducted as detailed. Summary of data and metrics around the campaign are below for reference.

·        Additional Resource Advisor Staff have been deployed and began operating in Urban Belfast from Monday 21st July. In terms of direct communications by the Resource Advisor Team and Waste Management colleagues, all is going to plan. 890 streets equating to 34342 urban households have received direct communications around the campaign.

·        The Project team have continued to hold weekly briefings with operations managers and assistant managers and their crews. Further briefings are planned at the end of August around the collection to policy (red) phase. These briefings will include Customer Hub colleagues, OSS and relevant FAQs will be reviewed and updated.

·        Red tags (domestic) and red stickers (commercial) have been ordered and delivered – these will form part of the briefings above and be circulated to stakeholders including the customer hub.

·        A new Special Waste Operations Team (SWOT) will be required from the end of September when we collect to policy. It is envisaged that these posts will be in situ for 15^th September, for training, in advance of the red collecting to policy phase on Monday 29 September.

·        Translations  - the 5 versions required have been printed and are in hand for staff on the ground, including Outreach Teams.

·        Performance/Campaign impact – In the first 2 days of the campaign, we experienced some teething problems. This did lead to small instances of non-collection at a number of sites and location which were corrected very quickly. After day 3, operationally, the campaign began to bed in well with crews on the ground and has also highlighted or magnified some of the “business as usual” issues at some of collection sites and areas e.g. overfilled euro bins and lidless euro bins at apartments. These issues are relatively small in number and being noted in issues log and issues managed case by case by Waste Collection and via colleagues in Waste Management. Issues raised to date are either resolved or in hand and we expect to see more of these as we go through the campaign.

·        The comms and engagement on the ground is having an impact. Resource Advisor home visits are up significantly as are orders for boxes and bins. Increases in orders and requests for service show a positive trend around better recycling messaging. The WM section is keeping close track of container stocks and orders coming in. Levels are currently comfortable in the context of increased demand and further orders are in progress to replenish stocks. Waste Management will continue to monitor this closely.

·        At the time of writing this report, 4 full weeks data has been gathered. Graph 1 below shows tag use/consumption for the first 4 weeks of the amber phase. The average rate of tagging vs number of collections during the period equates to less than 2% overall. The project team are content with progress to date and will continue to monitor the data, which is summarised in more granular detail in Table 1.

·        The Service introduced the quick report of workplace violence to crews at the start of the campaign and as of 29 August 2025, there were no reports made.

·        Customer Hub Feedback - There was a spiked increase in customer contact at the start of the amber tagging period due to teething issues with tags in some areas, however returned to normal levels quickly when resolved with only 14 service requests attributed to the bin safety campaign logged on CRM Dynamics during the month of August. A small number of residents have reported that they were not aware of the campaign prior to receiving a tag on their bin.

·        Two comments have been recorded about the campaign to date, with residents raising concerns about bins stored on streets/entries being overfilling by neighbours and bins being returned to their bin collection point by crews. The use of Report it app by squads to report matters impacting the collection of bins continues to be critical to assist the hub with handling customer contact. It is anticipated that customer contact will increase when the red tagging commences and the customer hub are working with Resource and Fleet Collections to ensure preparedness for the handling of enquiries this is expected to generate.

Graph 1 – summary of amber tag use cycle 1 and cycle 2 (4 weeks)

Table 1 – headline summary of campaign metrics

3.8       Corporate Communications summary of campaign feedback so far includes:

Social media content has already reached over 300,000 views, with widespread media coverage achieved. This has included TV news on both BBC and UTV.  The most successful post alone generated 245,000 views and 1,175 interactions (comments, likes, and reactions). 

3.9       Corporate Communications will continue to share regular reminder posts. As we move closer to the red tagging stage at the end of September, messaging will be adapted to highlight what red tags signify and why they are important. We plan to issue another media note ahead of the red tagging phase to generate a fresh wave of coverage. 

Financial and Resource Implications

3.10     There are no financial implications associated with this report.

Equality or Good Relations Implications /

Rural Needs Assessments

3.11     There are no equality or good relations implications associated with this report.

            The Committee noted the information which had been provided.