The amount of waste going to landfill in the United Kingdom has continued to fall in 2009, according to figures from the government environmental department Defra.

Provisional estimates from the department’s survey of municipal waste in England incorporate the first quarter of the 2009/10 financial year and are based on information supplied by local authorities to WasteDataFlow.

To minimise the effects of seasonal fluctuations, comparisons are made between the year April 2008 to March 2009 and the year July 2008 to June 2009, that is, encompassing the provisional results for the quarter April to June 2009.

Total municipal waste decreased by 0.28 million tonnes in the year to end June 2009, to 27. 06 million tonnes. A decrease in total household waste was observed, from 24.3 to 24.1 million tonnes, or 1.1%. Waste going to landfill dropped by 3.1% (13.4 million tonnes).

There was also an increase in the household recycling rate, from the average rate of 37.6% between April 2008 and March 2009 to 38.3% between July 2008 and June 2009. The average residual household waste (which is the amount of household waste which is not recycled) decreased from 295 kg per head between April 2008 and March 2009 to 289 kg per head between July 2008 and June 2009.

Defra explained that the data are provisional as not all returns have completed full validation and returns to WasteDataFlow can be revised by local authorities during the scheme year. “There are also seasonal effects on waste arisings and management which means care needs to be taken when assessing trends,” it explained Final figures will be released in the annual National Statistics release in November 2010.

For April to June 2009, all local authorities submitted data to WasteDataFlow and at the time the data were downloaded for this release, all authorities (358) had completed validation.

From the Irish Times, 11 February 2010

WASTE CONTRACTS worth tens of millions of Euro are to be offered to private landfill operators by the four Dublin local authorities when the last Dublin regional landfill closes at the end of this year.

Almost all residual household waste collected in Dublin will be in the hands of private waste companies following the closure of the landfill at Arthurstown, near Kill, Co Kildare, next December.

The landfill, which accepts 600,000 tonnes of municipal waste per annum was due to close in 2007. An Bord Pleanála granted an extension of the facility until December 21st, 2010, but no further deposits of household waste will be permitted after this date.

It was initially envisaged there would be a short time lag between the closure of Arthurstown and the opening of the Poolbeg incinerator, and that during this period waste would be sent to the planned landfill at Nevitt, near Lusk, a Fingal local authority area.

However, while the Lusk facility was granted planning permission last year following protracted Bord Pleanála hearings on the case held on three occasions over two years, it still has not been granted an operating licence from the Environmental Protection Agency. The Poolbeg incinerator will not be operational until 2013 at the earliest. and the region’s local authorities have no other facilities to deal with household waste under their control.

They are now in a position where they will have run out of landfill space at the end of the year, and apart from small amounts of capacity in neighbouring county council landfill facilities, they will have to seek tenders from the private sector to deal with waste.

Dublin City Council has in the last week advertised for interested parties to enter into talks on the processing of up to 350,000 tonnes of waste annually.

While contracts have not yet been put out to tender, a source close to the council has said they are likely to be worth tens of millions of euro for the three years until the Poolbeg incinerator is scheduled to open. More here.

Wiltshire county council has given the go-ahead for Marlborough-based waste management company Hills Group to build a £15 million mechanical biological treatment (MBT) facility at Westbury.

The county council awarded planning permission last week (March 18) for Hills to develop the 45,000 tonne-a-year capacity plant, which will be known as the Northacre Recovery Centre, as part of its contract to dispose of Wiltshire’s residual household waste.

Hills also intends to build a £1 million household waste and recycling centre at the Stephenson Road site in Westbury.

Speaking after the approval, Alan Pardoe, chairman of Hills Group, said: “We are delighted by today’s decision. This plant is a key element of Wiltshire’s overall war on waste and means that we can look forward to the day when at least 85 per cent of the county’s waste can be diverted from landfill. It adds up to a much more sustainable future.”

Originally, Hills had planned to send 30,000 tonnes of solid recovered fuel (SRF) generated by the proposed plant to be used in a cement kiln run by Lafarge Aggregates in Westbury before Lafarge was forced to mothball the operation due to the effect the economic downturn had on the construction market. However, the firm said it was now in talks to send the fuel elsewhere.

Mr Pardoe said: “Fuels of this type that reduce both waste and CO2 have a big future in the UK. We are already in discussions with other end-users and are confident that other outlets will be found for this fuel.”

A spokeswoman for Wiltshire county council confirmed that contract negotiations for the SRF were underway.

See letsrecycle.com story.

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.

However, the Waster especially commends WRG and it’s WRG’s Site staff for the survey in which; “…99% rated it as “good or very good” and 94% said that they had found staff helpful during their visit”.

Something really quite special is being achieved, and public recycling rates can only be improved as a result.

Press Release:
Public “thumbs-up” for Smallmead recycling centre

12/10/2008
The new state-of-the-art Smallmead Household Waste Recycling Centre in Reading has been given a huge thumbs up by the people that matter most – the residents who use it.

Earlier this year, as part of the PFI contract, re3 have also began redevelopment works at the Longshot Lane Civic Amenity Site in Bracknell. The works are due to continue until summer 2009, and have led to restricted opening times for residents using the site. Despite this, 82% of visitors to the site rated it as either good or very good. The full release is here.