The comments came from Paul Morgan, associate director at AMEC Foster Wheeler, who presented his thoughts on the challenges of dealing with trade waste alongside household waste at HWRCs at letsrecycle.com’s National Civic Amenity Site Conference in Staffordshire on Wednesday (15 June).
The consultant said that councils could adopt one of two approaches in dealing with trade waste – either preventing it from reaching sites altogether or taking in the waste for a fee.
Some methods for preventing trade waste have included height barriers for vehicles to prevent larger commercial vans entering sites or introduction of permitting schemes, he noted.
Councils
However, he said that councils’ approach will depend on the authority’s infrastructure adaptability and capacity, contractual arrangements and its approach to commercialisation.
Mr Morgan noted that trade waste presents a potential source of good quality materials, and added that councils could seek to “exploit” the opportunity to charge for receiving the material.
Mr Morgan outlined a number of examples of where local authorities have introduced charges for accepting trade waste, including Northamptonshire and Merseyside
He said: “The only way to tackle the illegal dumping of trade waste is for councils to be vigilant and to introduce effective enforcement action.
“However, where appropriate local authorities should look to exploit trade waste as this can be an income stream. But your prices must be competitive – they can’t be so low that your HWRCs are filled, or so high that no one comes.”
Elsewhere, the conference also heard from Peter Jones OBE, director of consultancy Ecolateral who spoke on behalf of the Paintcare campaign, an industry-led initiative set up by the British Coatings Federation (BCF) to encourage the recycling of paint.
HWRCs
Mr Jones highlighted that only one in three HWRCs currently accept liquid paint. He suggested that a financial incentive should be adopted to help local authorities to deal with the material, including the potential for a producer responsibility regime.
Mr Jones said: “Some HWRCs don’t currently take paint as they regard it to be hazardous waste. I believe councils should be paid for this service. The government should introduce tax incentives.
“The paint industry is looking at getting two, three or even five thousand tonnes of paint back into the production process by 2030. This is being driven by the fact that the materials for new paint are becoming more expensive.
“We need to break down the belief that recycled material isn’t as good as new paint, which simply isn’t the case. Currently used paint is still tipped down the sink.”
Lee Foulkes, technical manager at Rhondda Cynon Taf council also highlighted his council’s work to treat unwanted mattresses, which has included developing an automated dismantling process for the items.
Nigel Harvey, the chief executive of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) compliance scheme, Recolight, also provided an update on changes to the WEEE compliance system.
The National Civic Amenity Site Conference 2016 was supported by sponsors: JCB, Blue Group, Egbert Taylor Group, GJF Fabrications, John Moore Ltd, Modulo Beton and UKCM.
Subscribe for free