The facility aims to recover recyclables and food waste through MBT from residual waste collected across North Yorkshire and York. It processes the remainder through energy from waste (EfW).
The facility can receive up to 320,000 tonnes of waste per annum and became operational in 2018 (see letsrecycle.com story). It has missed its 5% contractual recycling target in every one of the four years since.
A report which will go before North Yorkshire’s transport, economy and environment overview and scrutiny committee on 20 October shows the facility recycled or composted just 1.04% of the waste between April 2021 and March 2022.
North Yorkshire county council told letsrecycle.com that Amey had been subject to a performance penalty and could face a further penalty for missing the target.
According to the report, “mechanical issues” with the MBT equipment during the year required the plant to be periodically run in ‘by-pass’ mode, which meant recyclates were not extracted.
“It has also been challenging to place plastics with a limited number of off-takers due to it being recovered from the residual waste stream,” the report says.
Amey forecasts that the facility will only recycle around 2.2% of the waste in 2022/23, the report shows.
‘Wider context’
Michael Leah, North Yorkshire county council’s assistant director for travel and environment, told letsrecycle.com that the Allerton Waste Recovery Plant’s recycling performance had been “below target”, but it was important to consider “the wider context of recycling rates within the county”.
The material tends to be of poorer quality than that from kerbside collections, making it more difficult to find a market for it
North Yorkshire sent 44.4% of its household waste for reuse, recycling or composting last year, Mr Leah said, and recycled 65.61% of the material taken to household waste recycling centres. “The overall performance of the county stands up well,” Mr Leah said.
He added: “The Allington Waste Recovery Plant accepts residual waste after households have already sorted their own recycling, so it follows that there is less recycling available to be sorted at the plant. The material tends to be of poorer quality than that from kerbside collections, making it more difficult to find a market for it.”
Mr Leah said recent maintenance work on the mechanical treatment equipment at the plant had improved its performance “considerably”.
“We will monitor progress closely and will continue to work with Amey to seek opportunities to optimise the types of waste delivered to the plant to secure continued performance improvements,” he concluded.
Letsrecycle.com contacted Amey for comment.
Performance
North Yorkshire and City of York councils awarded infrastructure and waste firm Amey a contract to build and operate the Allerton Waste Recovery Park, which comprises the MBT plant, an anaerobic digester and an EfW facility, in 2014.
In 2021/22, the Allerton Waste Recovery Park treated 291,296 tonnes of waste.
Amey completed a two-week planned shutdown of the MBT plant to replace the main in-feed conveyors in April, the report says. “Since the maintenance works have been completed, MT performance has significantly improved,” it reads. Amey forecasts the facility’s availability will be 73% in 2022/23, compared to 52% in 2021/22.
Meanwhile, the amount of waste Amey diverted from landfill improved “significantly” from 2020/21 to 2021/22, the report says, from 80.94% to 89.4%.
Deductions
As noted, the 2021/22 financial year is not the first in which the facility has missed the 5% recycling target. In 2021, the facility recycled just 1.08% of the contractual waste, though this was slightly higher than in 2021/22.
It was revealed last year that North Yorkshire county council had deducted £652,903 from its contract with Amey over three years for “consistently” missing recycling targets (see letsrecycle.com story).
Last week, Spanish company Ferrovial announced that it had reached an agreement to sell Amey excluding its waste treatment business for £400 million (see letsrecycle.com story).
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