Composting plant to be starter project for London Waste Action project

The new technical group to advise London on planning for recycling and waste management is to meet for the first time on December 13. Called the London Regional Technical Advisory Board, it will consist of officials who hold planning and waste posts with London boroughs, the Recycling Industries Alliance as well as the Community Recycling Network.

To be chaired by a senior member of the Environment Agency’s London board, the aim is to help bring together experts to help solve some of the planning and other strategic issues for waste management in the capital. In particular more sites are needed for the storage of recyclable materials and for the siting of sorting facilities and transfer stations.

The work will help towards the overall plan being put together by Mayor Ken Livingstone at the Greater London Authority .
The mayor has the task of producing a plan but does not have any statutory collection or disposal duties, although he does have powers to intervene and direct councils.

Considerable work is going on behind the scenes to ensure there is good dialogue between the mayor and the boroughs. Discussion is continuing on the energy from waste issue in particular which has seen some divisions of opinion with Mr Livingstone coming out against energy from waste.

Key to much of this work is London Waste Action whose work is endorsed by boroughs and could soon have the Greater London Authority and the mayor in membership.

The group has received more than 5 million in funding and has recently set up London Remade Ltd as a development/commercial arm.

Three main projects are currently being planned. The first will see the development of in-vessel and windrow composting alongside the Cleanaway composting site at Rainham in the London Borough of Havering. As the site has a working wharf on the Thames, London boroughs could use the site, explained Colin Roberts, chief executive of London Waste Action, to compost organic household and garden waste.

Two other projects in the piplene will cover paper and glass. The glass development will be in Dagenham and could see work with Berrymans and aggregates firm RMC. On the paper side it is expected that land at SCA Recycling’s site in Charlton.