Hertfordshire looks to develop recyclate market

The 20 year joint strategy covers Hertfordshire county council and its ten borough and district councils acting under a Memorandum of Understanding. It estimates that the cost of waste management will double to 55 per household, costing in total in excess of 36 million for the disposal, infrastructure and treatment needed to support the strategy.

County councillor Derrick Ashley, chairman of the partnership and executive member for environment, said, “If we continue to throw rubbish into our dustbins at the present rate, by 2024 we will be throwing away one million tonnes of waste each year in Hertfordshire.”

He added: “We have worked hard with our partners to address the problems and have chosen to look at waste in a different way – as a resource rather than something to hide away in the ground. That’s why we’re setting out to tackle the problem head on and recycle 50% of household waste by 2012.”

Hertfordshire's 2001-02 recycling rate was 15%. In order to achieve the 2012 target, the strategy says that kerbside collections of dry recyclables and organic material need to cover more than 80% of households with a participation rate of at least 90%, and 90% recovery of the material. The strategy also explains that with 'opt-in' kerbside schemes, participation has been as low as 40%, so a system of incentives and penalties may have to be introduced for residents.

Markets
In order to get quality recyclates, the council has recommended that the partner authorities choose &#39c;lean' material recycling facilities to sort the kerbside collected materials. The strategy also discusses the importance of having local markets for the materials to support the county's recycling.

The strategy says: “Hertfordshire’s strategy acknowledges the importance of securing long term stable markets for the materials, that will be recovered from the various waste management and processing technologies. As well as maximising opportunities offered by traditional re-processing markets, the market development strategy will seek to develop alternative markets and uses for recycled materials, within or closer to the County.

“The Hertfordshire waste authorities will work jointly to establish a market development programme for Hertfordshire that seeks to find alternative markets for recyclate, thereby adding value to existing waste streams.”

It adds that the county may work in this area with its neighbouring counties, Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire.

The Hertfordshire joint waste strategy can be downloaded from the county's WasteAware campaign website.