CIWM report warns of C&I infrastructure gap

The Ricardo-AEA consultancy report on C&I waste warns that a failure to develop infrastructure could lead to a shortfall of up to 15 million tonnes per year in wastes from businesses in the UK and Ireland.

And, the organisation claims that greater understanding is needed of the amount of C&I waste being generated in the market.

It states that contracts for C&I waste tend to be short term spot market arrangements with multiple contractors serving neighbouring businesses, while historically arisings are tied to economic growth and can be highly variable year on year.

At present, investors are cautious of infrastructure projects due to the lack of appropriate data and clear forecasts surrounding C&I waste. In the report, director of Enviroparks Wales David Williams expresses his concern that there is no agreed way of allaying fears within the finance sector and creating a robust forecast.

He said: We cant get funding without data. I cant emphasise enough the need for reliable data, it is essential for new business and new business growth.

Value

In order to rectify this, the report recommends the potential value of strong secondary materials market, and energy-from-waste contributions in the two countries are clearly communicated to stakeholders, government and the media.

The report goes on to warn existing C&I datasets are insufficient for making informed decisions about future planning of waste management infrastructure at a local or national level.

Also commenting within the Ricardo-AEA document, Environmental Services Association (ESA) chairman David Palmer-Jones said: ESA supports the call for improved data gathering systems to capture more reliable information on current waste arisings and trends, because supply risk is such a key issue in unlocking this potential in planning for future treatment capacity with greater confidence.

The report was the cornerstone of CIWM president David Beadles inauguration speech at the House of Commons early last week (October 15), at which he highlighted the dangerously untrodden territory of C&I waste as an issue he would address during his tenure (see letsrecycle.com story).

Planning

Steve Lee, CIWM chief executive said: As we seek to divert more material from landfill and drive waste up the hierarchy, commercial and industrial waste represents one of the most important growth opportunities for our sector, but it has been largely overlooked when it comes to strategic waste policy and planning.

To address the acknowledged challenges to delivering infrastructure for this important waste stream and to capitalise on the opportunities, we need to be able to accurately measure, project and plan for this feedstock. This research set out to improve our understanding, both of the current picture and what will be needed in the future, and it has served to highlight the need for better and more consistent data collection and analysis, and greater collaboration.

Governments, local authorities, private waste companies and the investment community all have a role to play and CIWM will be looking to bring relevant stakeholders together to ensure that collectively we can deliver the right infrastructure in the right place at the right time.