Just when will our society realise that when everyone produces such large quantities of waste, the waste HAS to be processed and disposed of somehow, and somewhere, and that it is unreasonable to expect to send it out of the area in which the waste was created!

In our first case the Surrey County Council Energy from Waste (EfW) facility, which only received planning permission in October 2008, now looks set to face further delays after a successful challenge against its development by the local parish council. Surrey Waste Management’s proposal for the facility at the Clockhouse Brickworks site in Capel, Surrey, has suffered a myriad of set-backs and challenges since the original planning permission, granted as far back as 2002, was overturned.

An official judgment is expected to have been made by the end of February (after this issue has gone to press). The 100000 tonnes capacity facility was intended to be operational in 2012 as part of a PFI-funded deal between Sita subsidiary, Surrey Waste Management, and the county council.

Our second problem waste processing facility in Cornwall has been rejected and new plans must be drawn up, so the problem is really serious for the citizens of Cornwall. The following is an extract from the BBC News item highlighting the problem:

New county waste plans ‘needed’

An alternative strategy for dealing with Cornwall’s waste needs to be drawn up as soon as possible, a council scrutiny committee has ruled.

The call to Cornwall Council comes after plans by waste company Sita for an incinerator at St Dennis were refused two weeks ago.

Sita then withdrew proposals for a waste centre at Scorrier last week.

The council will decide whether to follow the recommendation for a waste plan after elections later in the year.

Cornwall Council’s Environment Policy and Development Scrutiny Committee recommended that a dedicated panel be set up to look at alternatives.

The committee’s chairman, independent councillor Mark Kaczmarek, said: “It is essential that Cornwall has a clear way forward to deal with its waste.

“Our remaining landfill is running out. Far too much time and money has been wasted over the last few years and no solution to Cornwall’s waste disposal has been created. Cornwall Council must make this issue a priority.”

The full council will decide whether to follow the recommendation for a waste plan after it holds its elections in June.

County councillors voted 20-to-one on 26 March against Sita’s bid to build a waste-to-energy incinerator in the county. Planning officials had advised the council to grant the application.

The £117m waste-to-energy plant would have handled all of Cornwall’s waste – an estimated 240,000 tonnes of waste a year which would, in turn, have generated power for thousands of homes across the county. More here.

MRW – Claire Churchard, 08 Jan 2009

Cheshire County Council has saved £2.1 million by reducing the waste it sends to landfill.

The council has been able to free-up the cash due to a forecast 20 per cent reduction in landfill use, equalling about 50,000 tonnes.

“There has been a significant fall in the amount of rubbish we are having to landfill,” said the council’s Environment Executive Member Andrew Needham.

“This reduction compared to last year’s figure has happened for two main reasons. Recycling at our household waste recycling centres has more than doubled to 65 per cent under our new contractor H W Martin. This new contract has seen a 50 per cent reduction in landfill from the HWRCs. There have also been further improvements in kerbside recycling undertaken by the district councils,” he said.

Cash to be used for roads

But the money will not go back into funding for recycling and waste services in the area because “recycling is a dead duck,” Needham told MRW. He explained that the authority had a surplus of recycled materials and said the income from recycling had reduced, adding that they were now paying for people to take it.

He said the council supported the findings of the recent IMechE reportwhich called for the Government to abandon its focus on recycling and concentrate on building more energy-from-waste plants.

“Politically, dealing with waste is not easy,” Needham said, “there are no votes in it.”

PFI project

The authority is currently evaluating bidders for its £1 billion, 25-year private finance initiative waste project, which could include mechanical biological treatment and EfW technologies.

Neeedham explained that the £2.1m will not go towards funding this scheme, which is due to finalise a preferred bidder early this year. He also explained that £2.1m was a small amount in comparison to the £1 billion needed for the PFI project. More here at MRW Magazine.

The Waster notes that currently the council like elsewhere in post credit-crunch recession Britain, has to pay for recycling materials to be taken away.