Last week, local media reports in Gloucester suggested that an Amey employee had claimed that the waste contractor had been mixing recyclable material with residual waste destined for landfill at its Eastern Avenue depot.
‘Totally unfounded’
The accusations are “totally unfounded”.
Rob Edmondson
Amey
But, speaking to letsrecycle.com on Friday, Rob Edmondson, managing director of environmental services at Amey, described the accusations as “totally unfounded”.
Mr Edmondson said that no material from the site is sent to landfill. And, he added: “The Environment Agency has been onsite this week auditing the waste documentation.”
While Mr Edmondson explained that Chinese restrictions on material quality have had an impact on prices paid for some recyclable commodities, the company has UK-based off-take arrangements in place for all of the materials from the site, he said.
This is one in a number of cases nationally where work by waste management providers is the focus of public attention.
Amey is the waste management company contracted to collect recyclables on behalf of Gloucester city council.
Residual waste is collected fortnightly and sent to landfill. The council offers weekly collections for commingled recyclates, and a blue sack for corrugated cardboard.
Recycling is sent to the Eastern Avenue site for sorting prior to resale onto reprocessors.
Response
In response to the claims, Councillor Richard Cook, Gloucester’s cabinet member for the environment, said: “We are concerned to hear about the allegations and we will be raising this with Amey.
“Residents this year have responded brilliantly to our expanded recycling scheme and the City has increased the rate at which we recycle over the last 18 months and that is to be applauded. However, we should all be able to be confident that our recycling will be dealt with correctly and we will expect Amey to look into this matter.”
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