The council – which this month completed a survey asking residents what changes to waste services they would like to see – has yet to confirm its future residual waste disposal arrangements.
It follows revelations that the local authority spent £2.2 million on its failed 24-year contract with New Earth Solutions, which was due to build a gasification plant to handle the waste at Easter Langlee.
The Scottish Information Commissioner last month criticised Scottish Borders for a lack of written records that led to the decision to write off the contract, after retired journalist Bill Chisholm submitted a freedom of information request to the council to disclose its dealings with New Earth.
Mr Chisholm’s requests have since revealed that New Earth lost £1.3 million when the Borders contract fell through in early 2015, while in 2014 the council had granted the waste business a nine-month moratorium to deliver the £21 million treatment facility.
Rob Dickson, Scottish Border’s corporate transformation & services director, recommended the moratorium between February and October 2014, as the project still represented “the best solution for the council with a market leading gate fee, significant risk transfer and a robust on-site solution that requires minimal waste to leave the site”.
Survey
Scottish Borders is currently assessing feedback to the first phase of its revised Waste Management Plan consultation, a six-week online survey which saw around 1,400 people submit ideas to the council’s Dialogue Tool site.
Questions to residents included how often they recycle, the types of material they are most likely to recycle and whether they would like to see the introduction of kerbside glass collections.
Notably, the survey also suggests the council is facing “greater financial challenges” and asks if residents would be prepared to reduce residual waste rounds from fortnightly to once every three or four weeks.
A spokesman for Scottish Borders said: “All responses and comments will be considered as part of a council review which is being driven by a number of factors, including the need to reduce the amount of waste being sent to landfill.
“Last year over 30,000 tonnes of waste were sent to landfill in the Borders, the equivalent of over 3,000 refuse collection vehicles. It meant the Council had to spend £2.5million on landfill tax last year.”
Report
A council report published in August last year looked at the alternative steps the council could take to treat its waste.
It found that plans to be build a treatment facility in Scottish Borders were hindered by the time it would take to design, procure and construct a plant while also complying with Scotland’s ban on biodegradable waste to landfill by 2021.
And, it is not known whether the council’s upcoming service changes will bring changes to collection services in the area – and therefore alter the size and type of facility required.
The recommended option is to close the current Easter Langlee landfill site and develop a waste transfer station by ‘winter 2017’ on the former New Earth plot, transferring waste from all regions in to alternative EfW facilities.
This, the council reasons, will reduce the time Scottish Borders is subject to ‘negative press complaints’ associated with landfill, as well as the time it takes to determine the long term requirements of the region.
The option would cost the council an estimated £6.8 million between now and 2025 – an increase of more than £4.5 million when compared to its current waste disposal budget for the same period.
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