Greater Manchester reduces waste to landfill

Figures published this week (June 19) in the Authoritys Annual Review also show that it is diverting 54.96% of waste from landfill, which it claims has helped save more than 40 million a year in landfill tax since 2004/5.

The GMWDAs Annual Review 2013 was first presented last week (June 14) to Authority members at its Annual General Meeting (AGM), at which councillor Neil Swannick was also reappointed as the Authoritys chair.

Part of the review also looks at the GMWDA 25-year PFI deal with Viridor Laing, signed in 2009 (see letsrecycle.com story), through which 42 new waste treatment facilities were due to be built.

According to the review, 40 of these have now been completed, with the final two an in-vessel composting facility on Salford Road, Bolton, and the Bredbury mechanical biological treatment and anaerobic digestion facilities in Stockport due to be finished in 2013.

Commenting on the annual review, Manchester councillor Neil Swannick who was first elected as GMWDA chair in 2001 said: I am pleased to be reappointed as chair and I welcome new and existing members onto the Authority. We are in the fifth year of the contract and are on target to reach 50% recycling rate by 2015.

“Once all facilities are in place our future ambitions can only then be delivered if we can continue to change the way our citizens deal with waste, maximising its value as a resource, because our residents have become good and accurate recyclers. Our aim of zero waste is in sight and we will continue in 2013/14 with the environmentally sustainable solution to the treatment of Greater Manchesters waste.

With regards to its finances, the Authority also said it achieved its target budget savings of 2.287 million for the 2012/13 period in response to the governments austerity programme to cut costs.

Furthermore, once figures are finalised for the Authoritys spending of its 2012/13 budget of 147 million, the report predicts an underspend due to some facilities being delivered late and therefore not paid for under the terms of the contract.

Increased levy

However, while the Authority has reported savings in its Annual Review, it also announced in February that it was to introduce a big increase in the levy it demands from Greater Manchester local authorities from 2013/14 to help fund the new waste facilities under the Viridor Laing contract. It said the increase would add around 2.6% to residents council tax bills (see letsrecycle.com story).

The levy increase followed comments from Communities Secretary Eric Pickles in which he criticised GMWDA for the botched PFI deal pushing up council tax bills (see letsrecycle.com story), but the Authority claimed the increase in council tax had been flagged up before the contract was signed and it needed to avoid fines under the Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme (LATS).

The GMWDA provides recycling and waste disposal services for over one million households in Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside and Trafford.