Shropshire council and High Peak borough council currently collect commingled garden waste and cardboard in wheeled bins and sacks. In High Peak, South and North Shropshire, food waste is also accepted.
However, the councils announced separately last week that from October 28 2011 in High Peak and November 28 in Shropshire, they will no longer be collecting cardboard in this way.
They said the change was being forced upon them because of changes to “organic waste regulations” which Shropshire said were designed to improve the quality of compost for the gardening market.
Thecouncils were referring in particular to the publication by WRAP earlier this year of a revised PAS 100 standard for quality compost which places tighter limits on the physical contamination compost can contain (see letsrecycle.com story) . Previously set at 0.5%,the updated standard reduced this limit to0.25%. Attaining PAS 100 is important if composters wish to sell their compost and demonstrate that it is no longer a waste.
Changes to the environmental permitting regime for composters, which were due to come into force this month (see letsrecycle.com story) also mean that standards at composting sites are being raised more generally, Shropshire council explained.
The removal of card from green waste is seen as particularly key to improving the quality of compost because card is often laminated and contains inks and dyes which are not compostable. This issue was highlighted earlier this year by the Association for Organics Recycling, which issued two calls for action urging councils to improve the quality of organic waste feedstock and remove card a valuable material if collected separately – from the mix (see letsrecycle.com story).
“Disappointed”
Mike Owen, Shropshire councils cabinet member with responsibility for waste and recycling, said: Were really disappointed with this change as it means we will have to change a system which has successfully reduced the amount of waste going to landfill in the county over the last few years.
The changes in regulations being imposed at a national level will undoubtedly cause some inconvenience.However, residents can continue to recycle their cardboard by taking it to one of our Household Recycling Centres.
Anthony McKeown, executive councillor for community services at High Peak borough council, which said the changes had been forced on it, said: “While we understand that it’s important to get the best possible compost, it’s unfortunate that we’re having to put residents to the trouble of a big change to our kerbside recycling service.
WRAP
Responding to the criticism of the PAS 100:2011, WRAP told letsrecycle.com that it was important to point out that card could still be used in compost and it was a matter for local authorities to decide.
“Card and paper are much more valuable as recyclable materials in their own right than they are as inputs for composting”
WRAP
A WRAP spokeswoman said: Paper and cardboard themselves arent regarded as contaminants, as long as they are completely composted and arent recognisable in their original form at the end of the composting process. However, some types of cardboard cannot be composted. Associated packaging items such as plastic wrapping or strapping can also find their way into the process, and again, these cant be broken down.
Customers who buy commercially-produced compost only want high quality product, and the majority of composting facilities are now able to produce this, thanks to advances in technology and equipment.
Trade bodies, WRAP and the regulators took this increasing level of ability into account when developing the updated standard, in consultation with the industry (the last time the standard was updated was in 2005), and the majority of facilities are already meeting the higher standard.”
The WRAP spokeswoman added that if a local authority already collected dry recyclables then card and paper could be added to this. She said: Card and paper are much more valuable as recyclable materials in their own right than they are as inputs for composting.
AfOR
Jeremy Jacobs, from AfOR which helped to develop the PAS 100:2011- said: The whole ethos behind PAS 100 is ensuring quality. We cant produce a quality output if we are putting commingled material in at the front end. Card is too valuable a resource to be mixing with green waste. Card is not the issue it is the plastic, stables and other contras or non-target materials which come with it that are the problem.
“What is more, in winter, when much less green waste is available then composting card on its own does not work.
Shropshire
In Shropshire, mixed green and card waste is handled by the councils waste contractor Veolia. Material from South and North Shropshire which contains food is sent to an in-vessel composting facility in Derbyshire operated by Vital Earth. Meanwhile, material from other parts of Shropshire is sent to farm-based open windrow composting facilities based near Shrewsbury, Bridgnorth and Oswestry. One of these has achieved the PAS 100 standard for quality compost and the other two are working towards it. This means they will no longer accept garden waste which contains cardboard and Shropshire has not been able to find any alternative operators who will.
No Shropshire council material is currently taken to the Biocycle anaerobic digestion plant at Ludlow run by BiogenGreenfinch after the council found that collecting food waste separately was too expensive.
To inform householders of the change in Shropshire, a leaflet will be put under the lids of allwheeled waste binsfrom the end of this month. A permanent sticker will then be put on garden waste bin lids to act as a reminder to residents not to put cardboard in.
The council and Veolia are currently exploring ways to collect cardboard from the kerbside in the future, with some trials planned for the New Year. In the meantime, to help householders recycle their cardboard, around 20 recycling banks, currently accepting plastic bottles, will be converted into cardboard recycling banks.
The councils garden waste kerbside collection service receives approximately 38,000 tonnes every year from the collection of garden waste, cardboard and food waste from 131,000 homes across the county.Cardboard represents 4,000 tonnes of this, which is approximately 10%.
High Peak
In High Peak meanwhile, cardboard will continue to be accepted after October 28 but only in the blue bag currently just used for paper.
From mid October, the council has been attaching a black-and-yellow sticker to every green-lidded bin to spell out the new arrangements for collecting cardboard.
It will be necessary for households to flatten and fold their cardboard boxes to enable them to fit inside their blue bag. However, residents who do not have enough room in their blue bag for all their cardboard will be able to put the surplus in a carrier bag and leave it by the blue bag for collection, although additional blue bags will also be available.
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