Councils join forces in South Tyne and Wear

The authorities of Gateshead, South Tyneside and Sunderland announced this week that they have formed a South Tyne and Wear waste management partnership to boost recycling and reduce waste.

The arrangement will lead to the procurement of a 20-year contract, which last week became eligible for PFI funding (see letsrecycle.com story) .

However, before the process can move forward, Gateshead, South Tyneside and Sunderland are holding a public consultation on a draft waste strategy document which will help decide details such as what residual waste treatment technology should be used.

Fiona Brown, project director of the South Tyne and Wear Waste Management Partnership, said:

“Three councils are coming together to work in partnership and produce a joint strategy on an issue that will impact on everybody. This consultation process will help to deliver a more efficient service around the management and treatment of waste.

“We really want residents to have their say on how handle rubbish in the future and help us come up with solutions that are more sustainable and better for the environment,” she added.

Landfill

In 2005/06, the South Tyne and Wear partnership councils recycled and composted 20% of its waste and 80% was sent to landfill.

Under the new contract, the authorities are hoping to achieve a 45% recycling rate by 2020 to avoid financial penalties under the Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme (LATS).

Possible ways of achieving this include the introduction of kerbside collections of plastic, textiles and kitchen waste and new facilities to extract more value from residual waste.

Initial indications suggest that the council is against autoclaving for being unproven in the UK and particularly in favour of combined heat and power or anaerobic digestion which it says in its draft strategy “is one of the best performing options for waste recycling and composting, recovery and diversion of waste from landfill.”

Once the consultation is over, recommendations will be incorporated into an Outline Business Case to be sent to DEFRA.

Gary Smith, waste and recycling manager at Gateshead council, explained: “We have entered this partnership to create economies of scale and attract bigger players into the procurement exercise.”