Decision details

Resolved:

To adopt Cyngor Gwynedd's Waste and Recycling Strategy 2025–2030 as the strategic document setting out the Council's direction, vision and priorities for waste and recycling over the next five years.

To approve the principle of using Extended Producer Responsibility Funding (EPR) as the main source of funding to support and enable the implementation of the Strategy's priorities, including plans to increase recycling, improve services, maintain existing infrastructure and invest in future infrastructure.

To approve the strategic direction for the use of EPR funding to:

• manage the service's direct financial risks by creating "just in case" financial provision, such as dealing with overspending on service delivery where there is no alternative approach, reducing the risk of penalties for failing to meet recycling targets and preparing for Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) costs.

· provide a sound financial basis for the implementation of the projects set out in the Strategy, including the steps to reach the 70% recycling target and the short-term investments needed for upgrades.

· establish a Co-Funding Fund to support significant development at future sites in Caernarfon and Harlech.

Note that further decisions would be required on some individual operational elements of the Strategy and the use of the EPR funding, but that adopting the Strategy and approving the EPR use direction provided a policy framework and the financial foundation to move forward with the work programme.

Note that the Council would need to consider all possible sources of funding when setting the revenue budget for 2027/28 and subsequent years and that the possibility of having to revisit the above decisions could not be ruled out if an element of the EPR funding needed to be diverted in order to be able to set an equal budget.