The plan was published in July 2003 for South West Wales region which produces four million tonnes of waste each year. It covers construction and demolition, municipal and commercial and industrial waste produced in Pembrokeshire, Ceredigion, Carmarthenshire, Neath and Port Talbot, Swansea and Bridgend.
Councillor Pam Palmer, chair of the South West Wales Forum and Carmarthenshire’s environment executive board member, said: “Waste is an important environmental problem facing us all today and it is an issue that society needs to tackle. The Welsh Assembly has set targets for waste management which require radical changes in the way we operate if we are to meet them.”
Councillor Palmer added: “We want to know what people think about the plan and in particular what option they would choose.”
Six options are presented in the plan; four of the options are aimed at meeting 2013 targets, while the other two plan to go beyond these targets.
All the options laid out in the plan are based on recycling, re-use and composting more than 50% of the waste with land recovery also making an important contribution. For the residual waste, the options include using mechanical-biological treatment (MBT), energy from waste and landfilling in different proportions.
In a sustainability appraisal, option six which concentrates on MBT came out best, followed by an energy-from-waste focussed option two.
The deadline for responses to the plan is October 10, 2003. From the results a draft waste strategy will be drawn up and sent to the Welsh Assembly for approval in November. On-line feedback forms are also available at www.walesregionalwasteplans.gov.uk.
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