An investigation published by the Telegraph on Friday (21 August) found that some local authorities responsible for handling material for recycling sent it to landfill or incineration during the coronavirus pandemic.
Lee Marshall is chief executive of the Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee (LARAC), which represents local authority officers involved in recycling in the UK. He told letsrecycle.com: “Councils worked incredibly hard during the pandemic to keep services going and they did a tremendous job.
“The pandemic caused a situation that was unprecedented and caused a perfect storm of facility unavailability, staff shortages and increased waste production.
“In the few instances of recyclables having to go for disposal it would have been a temporary or one-off solution and as can been seen the actual amounts were minimal.
“There has also been an issue with increased contamination during the pandemic that councils have worked hard to combat.
“It is never good when material collected for recycling cannot be recycled, but in the circumstances councils have performed amazingly and done everything they can to minimise these sort of instances.”
Exemplary
Jarno Stet is secretary for the National Association of Waste Disposal Officers (NAWDO), the primary network for senior waste managers at local authorities with statutory responsibility for waste disposal. He told letsrecycle.com: “380,000 households equate to 1% of the UK’s 26.7m households. In the UK there were isolated difficulties managing waste during Covid-19 due to staff absence and increased waste generation but on the whole the local authority waste and recycling operations were exemplary at a very difficult time.
“Local authority waste and recycling operations were exemplary at a very difficult time”
“Many of NAWDO’s members have seen an increase in recycling rates recently. For example, the 650,000 households in the West London Waste Authority area alone recycled c.15% more during the pandemic.
“When non-recyclable items are contaminating recycling, it cannot be used as new resources. It is important that only those materials that can be recycled are presented for local authority recycling collections.”
Unprecedented pressure
The Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) described the steps taken by the councils as “drastic”, but noted the changes were only short-term.
A spokesperson for the resources charity said: “The global pandemic has put unprecedented pressure on councils delivering their waste and recycling services, often with reduced staff numbers and issues arising as a result of Covid-19.
“From the findings of this report it seems a few had to take drastic steps in the short-term, but the majority maintained their services as normal.
“Recycling is important as it enables the UK to collect valuable materials like plastic, metal, glass and paper to re-use and recycle into new products.
“We would urge everyone to continue to recycle as normal. If councils do need to make changes to services, it is always good practice to let people know so we can continue to recycle effectively.”
The Telegraph
An investigation by the Telegraph found that five local authorities representing more than 380,000 households sent all recycling to landfill or burnt it at the height of the pandemic.
A Freedom of Information survey by the newspaper asked 243 councils across England whether any kerbside recycling had been sent to either landfill or for incineration since the start of the coronavirus outbreak.
Some councils said they were forced to act after staff fell ill with coronavirus, while others blamed homeowners for trying to mix other waste with their recycled plastic, paper and glass.
West Oxfordshire district council, North East Derbyshire district council, Warrington borough council and Chesterfield borough council all said they had had to divert material for recycling as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
Waste authorities for Cambridge city council and South Cambridgeshire district council said they were sending all plastic film to EfW due to market pressures rather than the coronavirus pandemic.
Chesterfield
Chesterfield borough council was one of the local authorities named by the Telegraph which had sent recycling to landfill or EfW.
A council spokesperson said: “During the month of May 2020 our contractor continued to collect recycling from households across the borough. However, as a consequence of the coronavirus outbreak, there was a reduction of staff and facilities at the waste sorting plant.
“Unfortunately, this meant that 574 tonnes of mixed dry recycling – not glass – was sent to regular waste disposal and energy from waste sites.
“This was a temporary measure and recycling of these materials resumed in June 2020 and has continued as normal since.
“Whilst no public announcement was made, this information was available if requested. The decision not to make a public announcement was taken as it was a short-term measure taken as a direct result of the pandemic crisis, one which affected waste and recycling services in many council areas across the UK.”
‘Market pressures’
A spokesperson for the Greater Cambridge Shared Waste Service said that a small percentage of recycling is sent for energy recovery due to contamination rather than because of the pandemic, as well as problems in finding end markets.
“Less than 2% of residents’ recycling is sent to energy from waste because it is too low quality for re-processors or there is no market for it,” a spokesperson said.
They added: “Currently this includes thin plastic film – however depending on demand it can be recycled and that’s why we’ll keep asking residents to put it in their recycling. The overwhelming majority of items residents put in their recycling bins get re-processed and re-used and we closely monitor this.”
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