GMWDA champions Joint Waste Authorities

You couldn't afford to do this if you did it authority by authority

 
Paul Dunn, GMWDA

Speaking at the APSE Annual Seminar 2008 in Nottingham yesterday (September 10), Paul Dunn of the Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority (GMWDA), described joint-working between the authority's nine member councils as being the “main achievement” of its work.

And, he explained that the approach had helped cut costs for the procurement of new solutions to deal with the regions' waste.

“Without it you'd have ended up with nine different authorities procuring different solutions, and you'd probably have ended up with higher costs,” he said.

The GMWDA is currently procuring an often-delayed £4.4 billion PFI-funded contract for waste treatment facilities, which will include a MRF, windrow and in-vessel composting plants, an MBT plant, AD facilities and site to thermally treat refuse-derived fuel (RDF).

Mr Dunn highlighted the fact that “you couldn't afford to do this if you did it authority by authority; they are scaled at 100,000 tonnes”.

He also pointed out that working through a joint waste authority offered benefits when new legislation was brought in – such as the WEEE Directive and the forthcoming Batteries Directive.

In particular, he specified how it could produce benefits with regards dealing with landowners, helping cross-boundary activity and dealing with the consequences of “when things do not go to plan”.

Moves

While there are currently six statutory joint waste authorities in England – with four in London and one for Merseyside alongside the GMWDA – the government has made moves to increase their number.

In January 2007 Defra announced powers for more to be created (see letsrecycle.com story), and following a consultation process, formal proposals to create the authorities are expected to be invited from this autumn (see letsrecycle.com story).

Communication

Mr Dunn explained that a key aspect of the GMWDA's success in terms of waste minimisation and increasing recycling and composting rates (which it boosted from 27% in 2006-07 to 29.86% in 2007-08) was communication with residents.

Stating that the GMWDA had undertaken a “lot of education”, he reported “we've turned around a growth in waste into a decline in waste”.

He also detailed the benefits of working towards introducing a four-stream collection system, with paper and cardboard as one stream, garden waste as another, and then residual waste and other recyclables as the remaining two, explaining that “it's so simple that people don't have to think about it”.

PFI

Providing an update on the progress of Greater Manchester PFI project, Mr Dunn said that “the deal's ready for closing” but also acknowledged that “it has been now for some time”.

While funding issues for preferred bidder Viridor Laing have previously been identified as one reason for the delay in the project reaching financial close (see letsrecycle.com story) securing planning permission for the combined heat and power plant to burn RDF – which would be built by chemical firm Ineos Chlor at Runcorn in Cheshire had also been seen as an issue for the scheme (see letsrecycle.com story).

And, Mr Dunn revealed yesterday that the GMWDA was hoping to get planning permission from BERR for the plant “anytime soon”.