But planning permission for the landfill site will not affect the council's ambitious waste management plans which follow a waste audit which shows that it should be aiming for a 50% recycling rate rather than its current recycling rate of around 20%. The permission for “recontouring” by additional tipping at the landfill site, which is run by Shanks, has been given despite residents' concerns about the operation of the site over the past year.
Network Recycling carried out the waste audit for Milton Keynes Council to determine the potential for waste reduction and recycling. The audit on different household waste streams took place in April and November 2000.
The audit included refuse and recycling rounds, CA sites or household waste and recycling centres, waste from schools, non-clinical waste from the hospital, litter and dumped rubbish, mechanical sweepings, bulk skips, and bulky household goods collections. The results from each waste stream audit have been applied to the overall tonnages collected in 1999/00.
Gill King, waste minimisation officer for Milton Keynes, said that the results of the waste audit will help to form a new waste strategy for the council. She said: “We wrote a waste strategy in 1999 but a lot has happened in the last two years and it is now out dated. The audit will help us produce an up-to-date waste strategy.”
69% of household waste
Network Recycling found that the kerbside refuse and recycling rounds show a high potential for recycling and that materials which could be recycled or composted under the collection systems currently available in Milton Keynes total 69% of the household waste stream. Items included in this category are those which can be collected relatively easily and for which outlets are known to exist. Compared with 19.4% of this stream which was being recycled during the audit period. The audit showed that biodegradable waste accounts for 63.5% of the total household waste stream.
A further 4.3% of the household waste stream was found to have the potential to be recycled in the near future given technical developments or local market development. These items include drinks cartons, PP/PS packaging and batteries.
Another 2% of the waste consisted of carrier bags and disposable nappies were singled out as possibly being the subject of a waste minimisation campaign.
Network noted that Milton Keynes is on a black sack refuse round which affects the amount of plastic film in the household waste stream.
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