One of the top-ten councils in the country when it comes to recycling, Bath & North East Somerset is looking at building an environment park that would handle about 100,000 tonnes of material a year.
The park would be built on a brownfield site such as an old landfill, and would include a new materials recycling facility, waste transfer station and some kind of facility to recover value from residual waste.
Speaking to letsrecycle.com, Bath & NES head of waste and zero waste Richard Robertson said the council is looking at a number of options, including the possibility of an anaerobic digestion facility, although mechanical biological treatment appears unlikely.
“We will still be using ordinary windrow composting for green waste, but with anaerobic digestion, we see a way to get more from the black bags. When you break open those bags, you take away the metals and a lot of the rest is putrescible, so why not make something of that?”
The council has had expressions of interest from 28 organisations, thought to be mainly in the private sector. Bath & NES hope to have a new partner in place some time in 2004, such that the park might begin operations in 2006.
With a recycling rate currently about 26% for its 73,400 households, Bath & NES is aiming to reach 33% by the end of 2003-04 and 36% by 2005-06. Mr Robertson believes they will reach these targets, although it will be “difficult”. The council, which won Beacon status for its recycling in 1999, has adopted a “zero waste” policy as part of its waste strategy.
Mr Robertson said: “Zero waste is a state of mind – it's not about targets, it's about changing people's behaviour.”
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