The drop in the area’s total waste arisings was highlighted in a report which went before the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) last week (13 July). The document noted that the waste volumes fell from 1,103,077 tonnes in the financial year 2021/22 to 1,016,669 tonnes in 2022/23, a fall of nearly 8%.
Also covered in the report were recycling rates, which have seen a marginal decrease from 45.98% in 2021/22 to 45.57% in 2022/23. On the other hand, landfill diversion rate rose marginally in 2022/23 to 99.48% when compared to 99.14% in 2021/22, the report showed.
It then explained that the landfill diversion rate was “affected by the annual maintenance shutdowns at Runcorn Combined Heat and Power (CHP) facility from end of May to start of July 2022 and Bolton TRF in October and November but was mitigated with storage and use of third party energy recovery outlets where necessary”.
The update on contracts was written by Justin Lomax, head of contract services at GMCA’s waste and resources team and Paul Morgan, the waste and resources team’s head of commercial services.
Contracts
The report provides an update on the performance of the two contracts held by Suez since 1 June 2019, valued at £1 billion. This uses cumulative annual data for the period up to the end of Quarter 4 (April 2022 to March 2023) of the financial year 2022/23.
The document compared total waste arisings, landfill diversion, overall recycling rate, contamination levels as well as tonnage rates for the 2022/23 financial year, comparing the data to the previous year’s performance.
When looking at paper contamination in the twin stream system, the report highlighted that the amount rejected at kerbside fell by almost 24% to 1,901 tonnes in 2022/23 in comparison to the 2,498 in 2021/22. As for the MRF contamination rate for commingled material, this rose to from 13.41% in 2021/22 to 14.53% in 2022/23, the document said. The report noted continuing improvement but added that “ongoing measures are required to reduce contamination and encourage accurate recycling by residents”.
Waste strategy
The document also touched on the English Resources and Waste Strategy, noting that “committee members raised concerns on the lack of information and clarity received from Defra and the government to date on the information essential to make the decisions required”.
In relation to the deposit return scheme which is set to commence from October 2025, the report said that “members requested clarification on the reasoning behind glass being excluded in collections for England”.
The document then concluded that officers will continue to liaise with Defra and the Secretary of State for the release of information required to enable decisions regarding future waste collections to be discussed and agreed, any detail received will be disseminated to districts.
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