Oxfordshire and Warwickshire councils have both said they are disappointed with the Environment Agencys guidance that street leaf sweepings are too contaminated to be used to produce quality compost.
And, it has now emerged that recycling rates in Oxford are set to suffer as a result of the city council being unable to recycle street sweepings, leading to chairman of the Oxfordshire Waste Partnership (OWP) to describe the Agencys stance as ridiculous.
Last week (August 28), after 21 local authorities took part in trials involving the treatment, testing and analysis of seasonal street leaf sweepings, the Environment Agency (EA) said preliminary results indicated the material was not suitable to produce Quality Protocol and/or PAS100 standard compost (see letsrecycle.com story).
The Agency is to release a full report on the trials later this month, but it said that there were high levels of carcinogenic contaminants found in both street leaf sweepings and in their composted outputs. As a result, the Agency is re-affirming its stance against materials use in compost.
This lead to both Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee (LARAC) and the Organics Recycling Group (ORG) describing the outcome of the trials as disappointing, as it costs councils more money to landfill or incinerate the material, which also negatively impacts on recycling rates.
Oxford
Although street sweepings are not allowed for composting, Oxford city councils street sweepings were used as top fluff material until September 2012 to provide a protective layer to cover the top of landfilled waste, which contributed to the councils recycling rate.
However, Her Majestys Revenue and Customs (HMRC) issued a briefing note in May 2012, which included guidance that top fluff material was no longer exempt from landfill tax and therefore did not count towards recycling rates (see letsrecycle.com story).
Street sweepings in Oxford are now sent to landfill, with the council anticipating a 6% reduction in its recycling rate in 2012/13 as a result.
Oxford council recycles 45.4% of its waste and had been targeting a psychologically important 50% recycling rate, but the council report this week states that this is no longer possible in the near future and that it is difficult to see how we could achieve it economically even in the longer term.
‘My understanding is that the material is in very small amounts and nothing particularly nasty.”
David Dodds, South Oxfordshire district councillor
The report therefore recommends that the council focuses on the arguably more important figure of reducing waste to landfill as well as continuing to lobby the EA to accept street leaf sweepings as a suitable compostable material.
Commenting on the Agencys guidance on street sweepings for use in compost, OWP chairman and South Oxfordshire district councillor, David Dodds, said: We are obviously disappointed with the Agency guidance on this. You can see where they are coming from but on the other hand in terms of health and safety it seems absolutely bonkers.
He added: My understanding is that the material is in very small amounts and nothing particularly nasty.
Veolia operates a facility near Rugby for processing street sweepings under a contract with Leicestershire county council and Oxfordshire county council is also hoping to send sweepings from the county there from October 2013 under a 12-month service level agreement.
Mr Dodds said this proposed agreement would work on an interim basis while Oxford authorities sought a more local solution to dealing with street sweepings that would save on transport costs.
Warwickshire
Warwickshire county council which has a contract with SITA UK to process street sweepings at a dedicated facility near Wolverhampton has also bemoaned the Agencys stance on the issue.
Glen Fleet, head of waste management Warwickshire county council, said: We are certainly disappointed with the outcome.
When you weigh up how much it is going to cost local authorities across the UK to process the material you would have through Defra and the Environment Agency would get their heads together and start finding a way in which you can use it.
He added: What I also find strange is that the material is on the ground for a very short amount of time before it is swept up and collected. It isnt lying around for months to get contaminated. But I am not sure what kind of research information the Environment Agency has, so maybe they know something we dont.
Mr Fleet said that under countys contract with SITA, 30.8% of the material recycled at the Wolverhampton facility on Neachells Lane is organic material, which contributes 0.8% to the overall material recycled in the county, which he said makes quite a big difference to recycling rates.
SITAs Neachells Lane facility separates out recyclables, sand, aggregates and organic fractions. The lighter organic fractions are then processed to produce filter cake, for which SITA has permission from the EA to spread as restoration material in non-agricultural restoration areas.
However, according to SITA, spreading of this material is still subject to final EA approval following the submission of an application for a bespoke permit for use at a specific site.
Asked by letsrecycle.com to comment on the Agencys guidance on street sweepings, a spokesman for SITA said: We think there’s a positive future for facilities similar to Neachells Lane. We can help councils to push up their municipal recycling rates and we are currently exploring options to develop similar facilities in other locations.
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