David Cameron asked to join Oxfordshire&#39s waste debate

A coalition of local Friends of the Earth groups has written to the Witney MP expressing their concerns as a partnership of Oxfordshire local authorities begins the search for new long-term waste disposal contractors this month.

Led by the county council, the partnership is to submit a notice to the Official Journal of the European Union in January to detail its requirements and formally invite private sector interest.

But the local campaigners are pressing for the Tory leader to back their calls for Oxfordshire's waste partnership to avoid using incineration to cope with waste left over after recycling has been carried out.

Interest
A “soft market” review of potential interest from industry carried out last year saw more than 25 companies responding with their thoughts on cutting Oxfordshire's dependence on landfill.

Of these, 10 companies suggested energy-from-waste or advanced thermal treatment to recover value from the county's annual 200,000 tonnes of residual waste. Seven of these stated mechanical biological treatment (MBT) or anaerobic digestion as alternative options, while a further company stated preference for MBT above any other technology.

The council is keeping an open mind on which treatment technology it will choose for the contract or contracts, which would follow the county's new joint waste strategy, developed for the period after 2012.

Bidders for the disposal services are expected to be chosen by April this year.

Campaigners
But campaigners from Oxford, Bicester, Banbury and Thame reveal in their letter a fear that council minds are already being made up to opt for incineration.

They are calling on Mr Cameron to exert his influence on the Tory-majority county council to steer the partnership towards MBT, using anaerobic digestion to deal with residues from the MBT process.

Andrew Wood, waste and recycling campaigner for Oxford Friends of the Earth told letsrecycle.com: “The Conservative controlled county council risks blowing a massive hole in the carefully crafted environmental credentials of Tory leader David Cameron if they choose incineration. Research shows that alternative waste treatments which do not require burning Oxfordshire's waste in an incinerator have fewer climate change impacts. The environment should be a top priority for the county council.”

In their letter to the Conservative leader, the activists cite a report written for Friends of the Earth by Dominic Hogg of Eunomia Consulting last year, which claimed that incineration is not as efficient at cutting greenhouse gas emissions as other waste treatment options (see letsrecycle.com story).

The letter to Mr Cameron said: “It is estimated that even over 20 years the county could burn 3 million tonnes of discarded resources – which we call rubbish – in an incinerator. Clearly the decision made by politicians within the county, and in particular your own political party, will last for many years to come.

“We hope you will support our opposition to burning Oxfordshire's waste in an incinerator,” the pressure groups added.

Councils
Responding to the concerns, Oxfordshire county council – leading the partnership that also includes the collection authorities of Cherwell, Oxford city, South Oxfordshire, Vale of White Horse and West Oxfordshire – defended its intention to consider all waste treatment technologies including incineration.

Chris Cousins, Oxfordshire's head of sustainable development, explained: “The aim of soft market testing is to contact a range of companies to discover if what the council is tendering for is deliverable. The exercise confirmed that it is.

“It also confirmed that there were companies who would want to promote a range of different treatment technologies, including mechanical biological treatment (MBT), energy from waste (EfW) and advanced thermal treatment (ATT).

“It is therefore prudent for the council to remain technology neutral while the pros and cons of the various detailed proposals can be assessed. Whatever technology is finally chosen would have to be approved on environmental and safety grounds by the Environment Agency,” Mr Cousins added.

Recycling
Oxfordshire – the home of the government's recycling development organisation WRAP – is already recycling around a third of its total 300,000 tonnes of household waste generated each year.

The county, which includes the towns of Banbury, Abingdon and Didcot as well as the city of Oxford, could also be required to take up to 17% of London's waste – around 231,000 tonnes per year – according to the draft South East Plan up to 2025.

Authorities are taking a lead from South East England's best recycling council – Cherwell – in bringing in alternate weekly collections for residual waste, while kerbside recycling and green waste collections are now widespread.

Separately from the disposal procurement process, the county waste partnership is expected to tender later this year for a company to build and run an in-vessel composting plant to allow food waste collections to be offered to residents.