Plastic use in Denbighshire school kitchens has increased during Covid-19 pandemic – but reduction taskforce could be axed

The use of plastic in Denbighshire’s school kitchens has jumped up during the Covid-19 pandemic, a report has shown.

County councillors will be told today that the increase has been caused by the requirement for extra food safety measures to stop the spread of the virus.

However, despite work being carried out to reduce the local authority’s use of plastic within office buildings, a taskforce set up to deliver the changes looks set to be disbanded.

Denbighshire County Council has admitted it could lead to delays in its efforts to tackle climate change.

Members of its performance scrutiny committee are instead being asked to wait for new Welsh Government legislation to cut plastic use later next year before deciding the best course of action.

A report by the task and finish group itself outlines its achievements to date and how its work has been disrupted by  Covid-19.

It states: “The objectives for phase one have been achieved. All refreshment, vending machines and water coolers had been switched off since the end of March 2020.

“Some of the machines have already been collected by the supplier whilst others are awaiting collection.

“Their removal, similar to numerous other services and tasks had been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the school catering service, has resulted in additional food safety measures being required in order to minimise the risk of infection when providing school meals to the county’s pupils.

“Consequently, more plastic and polystyrene are currently being used by the school catering service than before the pandemic.

“Officers informed the task and finish group that due to the current restrictions, requirements and expectations that the aim to reduce its use of these materials should be held in abeyance until the pandemic is over.”

During the early stages of its work, the group also decided to focus on attempting to reduce the leisure service’s use of plastic materials.

Since then, the management of the leisure service in the county had transferred to Denbighshire Leisure Limited (DLL) and therefore became outside its remit.

Despite the work to date, the committee has been asked to approve the following recommendations:

1. given the current circumstances due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, phase two of the group’s work should not proceed and that the task and finish group be disbanded;
2. opportunities to reduce the use of plastics in school catering and procurement, along with any future work on the avoidance and reduction of plastics in Denbighshire County Council (including its alternative delivery models such as Denbighshire Leisure Limited) be co-ordinated under the proposed climate and ecological change strategy; and
3. having agreed the above recommendations that the committee submits them to county council for approval

The report notes there is a risk that some impetus is lost as a result of the group being split up as there will not be a specific focus on the avoidance and reduction of single use plastic.

However, it said legislation which the Welsh Government proposes to bring forward during the autumn of 2021 aimed at reducing the use of single use plastics across Wales, may well help deliver the aims of the group.

It states: “Under the proposed legislation, public bodies and others in Wales will be required to reduce their use of single-use plastics.

“This will require all council services to re-evaluate their use of single-use plastics and source products made of alternative materials for all purposes but those provided exemptions under the legislation.”

Denbighshire Council has responded as part of the Welsh Local Government Association’s collective response to the Welsh Government which acknowledged the urgency of the need to address the problems entailed with using single use plastic.

The response included concerns in relation to the impact of Covid-19 on the use of plastics, but concerns have also been raised in respect of the proposed timing for introducing the ban.