And, while the facility is out of action in the wake of the blaze, it has also emerged that a “significant” amount of East London’s residual waste – estimated to be around 4,000 tonnes per month – is currently being sent to landfill.
As such, although household waste collections have not been disrupted, the East London Waste Authority – which has a 25-year waste deal with Shanks – is keen to gain access to the Frog Island MBT as soon as possible in order to avoid landfilling more material and incur potential future landfill tax costs.
However, a spokesman for the Environment Agency said today (September 30): “Investigations and the clean-up operation continue. We are working with Shanks towards resuming normal operation which is likely to take over 12 months.”
Clean-up and investigations have now been underway at the 180,000 tonne-per-year capacity MBT on Creek Way near Rainham for almost two months after a large fire affecting 2,500 tonnes of household waste broke out inside the reception hall of line 1 at the facility on August 4 (see letsrecycle.com story).
In the meantime, some waste from the four borough councils which comprise the ELWA – Havering, Redbridge, Newham and Barking & Dagenham – is being sent to Shanks’ other nearby MBT plant at Jenkins Lane in Newham, which has the same capacity as Frog Island.
Landfill
However, speaking to letsrecycle.com this week (September 29), Mark Ash, acting managing director at ELWA, said that a “significant” amount of East London’s waste was also being sent to landfill due to limited capacity at Jenkins Lane.
He said: “It is not impacting on waste collections, for sure. That was our priority. But inevitably we have had to landfill more material than we would have liked to, which is why we are keen to gain access to Frog Island.”
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Mr Ash also indicated that as much as 4,000 tonnes of the waste that would normally go to Frog Island may be going to landfill.
He explained that insurance complexities and the Authority’s “output-based contract” with Shanks meant that it was “too early to project” how much landfill costs would be and whether or not such costs would be shared between the EWLA and Shanks.
And, asked when ELWA might again be able to send waste to Frog Island, Mr Ash also said: “It is difficult to say at the moment. We’re hoping to get some partial access into Frog Island sometime in future, but there are discussions with the Environment Agency over what can and cannot be done. Hopefully we will be able to transfer some material out of Jenkins Lane and into Frog Island.”
According to Mr Ash, if ELWA is not granted access to Frog Island soon, other solutions to avoid landfilling the region’s waste could include interim deals with local waste management companies or other local authorities.
Damage
Shanks declined to comment on the extent of the damage or give an indication as to how long the facility might be out of action. The company processes East London’s household waste at the MBT plant under a 25-year deal with the ELWA.
However, ELWA’s Mr Ash said: “Damage appears to be significant in the refinement section. They have only been able to access that part of the site in the last five days.”
He added: “I don’t think we will ever know for sure exactly what caused the fire. The forensics have been there for quite some time now.
“Indications are that it was something that arrived in the waste at the plant. We know it wasn’t a mechanical failure at the plant.”
Twelve fire engines and 81 firefighters attended the scene at the height of the blaze in August, while the surrounding industrial estate had to be evacuated. The incident also disrupted nearby road traffic and East London flight paths, with black smoke from the fire visible for miles around.
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