Item No.	Item Title	Page No.
1	**Ipswich Waste Services July-September 2019 Quarterly Report	6

Environment Committee

Meeting Agenda

12 November

2019

Doc ID No: A5860565

ITEM: 1

SUBJECT: Ipswich Waste Services July-September 2019 Quarterly Report

AUTHOR: Senior Business Advisor

DATE: 23 October 2019

Executive Summary

This is a report concerning the Ipswich Waste Services July – September 2019 quarterly report.

Recommendation/s

That the Interim Administrator of Ipswich City Council resolve:

That the Ipswich Waste Services July-September 2019 quarterly report be received and noted.

RELATED PARTIES

There was no declaration of conflicts of interest.

Advance Ipswich Theme

Caring for the environment

Purpose of Report/Background

Council’s waste services section (Ipswich Waste Services) is considered a commercial business unit under the provisions of the Local Government Regulation 2012. Section 175(1) of this Regulation specifies that Council’s Annual Operational plan must include an annual performance plan for each commercial business unit of the local government. The Regulation details the required content of the annual performance plan for a commercial business unit and includes the need to specify reporting requirements to Council.

The adopted 2019-2020 Ipswich Waste Services Annual Performance Plan specifies that a report will be provided to Council on a quarterly basis detailing the following items:

· Major highlights of operational activities.

· Performance in relation to stated performance targets.

· Financial analysis of quarterly performance against budget.

· Waste and recycling volumes.

· Recycling and Refuse Centre data.

· Delegation Reporting.

· Asset Disposal.

Attachment 1 contains the Ipswich Waste Services July – September 2019 quarterly report and Attachment 2 details the refunds made by Ipswich Waste Services in the July – September 2019 quarter.

Legal/Policy Basis

This report and its recommendations are consistent with the following legislative provisions:

Local Government Regulation 2012

RISK MANAGEMENT IMPLICATIONS

As Attachment 1 indicates, Ipswich Waste Services is not meeting a number of specified performance targets. A discussion of these issues and their risk implications follow:

Net Profit Margin

Quarterly performance target = 24.39%

Quarterly Performance = 22.8%

A detailed explanation of financial performance is provided in section 4 of Attachment 1. The key risk from the YTD financial result is that Ipswich Waste Service is unlikely to meet overall budget targets unless a budget amendment is undertaken prior to the end of the financial year.

HR Standard - Annual leave balance for each staff member of 6 weeks or less

Performance target = >95%

Quarterly performance = 66.6%

Ipswich Waste Services is experiencing significant staff shortages that has limited its capacity to encourage staff to take their annual leave. The new EBA, with the introduction of the four day work week at the end of January 2019, has resulted in five more staff on a rostered day off each work day. No additional staff were provided to Ipswich Waste Services to accommodate this change. The Riverview Recycling & Refuse Centre is also experiencing staffing challenges with long term sick leave and workload that can only allow one person per crew to have leave at any one time.

The primary risks associated with this issue is potential staff burn out and inability to meet service demands. Workforce planning is in progress to address these issues.

% waste diverted from landfill by the kerbside service

Performance target = 15%

Quarterly performance = 13.6%

This is a complex issue but the primary driver of reduced performance during this quarter was the restricted loading facilities available at the Riverview Recycling & Refuse Centre during the roof replacement project. For many years the Riverview Recycling & Refuse Centre has struggled to meet increasing service demands and operational issues can severely disrupt service capacity. The need for a waste management infrastructure plan has been identified to provide modern purpose built facilities that meet the public waste disposal needs of the growing city and provide suitable infrastructure to manage the material collected in the kerbside recycling service.

On the broader issue of increasing waste diversion from landfill, Council currently has limited opportunity to increase diversion rates when limited recycling markets are available to process collected materials. It is hoped that the Sub-Regional Alliance Waste Management and Recycling Services Expression of Interest will provide Council with more waste diversion options. Council’s adopted Materials Recovery Plan sets a domestic waste recycling target of 45% by 2024. Council is currently only diverting 25% of domestic waste from landfill and will need to continue to identify alternative solutions to meet the targets for waste management in Ipswich.

Financial/RESOURCE IMPLICATIONS

The annual Ipswich Waste Services budget is developed in order to align with the service and performance standards nominated within the Annual Performance Plan.

COMMUNITY and OTHER CONSULTATION

There are no community or other consultation requirements specified under section 175 of the Local Government Regulation 2012 for the implementation of the Ipswich Waste Services Annual Performance Plan or its reporting requirements.

Conclusion

Council’s waste services section (Ipswich Waste Services) is considered a commercial business unit under the provisions of the Local Government Regulation 2012. Under this legislation, Council’s Annual Operational plan must include an annual performance plan for each commercial business unit of the local government. The 2019-2020 Ipswich Waste Services Annual Performance Plan indicates that the performance of the plan will be reported to Council on a quarterly basis. Attachment 1 provides the Ipswich Waste Services July – September 2019 quarterly report.