16 December 2016
"Firstly, all recyclable waste collected separately by districts is recycled. Be it household waste or commercial waste. The recent changes to the facilities did not impact recyclables in any way at all. Only the way in which we deal with garden waste and residual waste (grey bin rubbish) has changed.Garden waste is still composted but we took the food waste out to enable us to deal with it in outdoor composting facilities at a much better cost.Residual waste used to go through the Mechanical Biological Treatment (MBT) process. The business case for doing so was based around regulation on landfilling biodegradable waste (BW) and the Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme (LATS) which limited the amount of biodegradable waste that could be landfilled, with potentially significant fines for exceeding LATS limits. The Government withdrew the LATS scheme in 2013 and in doing so landfill suddenly became a cheaper option than MBT again. Despite the landfill tax escalator.It was the biological part of the MBT process that dealt with the BW – essentially composting organic material – and it was this process that was the most expensive. It is that which we have stopped doing. We are still using mechanical separation and we do still turn residual waste into refuse derived fuel (RDF). We process as much waste as we can find outlets for into RDF and are still processing exactly the same amount of waste into RDF as we did before the changes (we would make more RDF if we had the markets to send it to). The reason we are landfilling more is that the biological process broke the waste down by mass achieving about a 25% reduction in the quantity. So as we are not composting it we don't lose the 25%. It is this extra quantity which we are landfilling, but in doing so overall we are saving circa £8.5m per annum.HOWEVER!This doesn't mean our intention is to rely on landfill. We are actively seeking more RDF markets and will be procuring a formal framework of contractors that we can supply to. Then, when capacity becomes available, we will be able to turn more residual waste into RDF.In addition, with the space we now have available we have been conducting a series of trials in order to try to achieve some mass loss without the need for a full and costly biological process. Simply by sitting waste in a pile it heats up and moisture evaporates. We are looking at whether there is a business case for operating a very simple mass loss process, which in turn will then reduce the amount we landfill. Initial results are very encouraging but I will keep you informed as the trials progress."
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