New CIWM president warns against short-cuts in composting

And in his opening address at the CIWM Exhibition in Torbay yesterday, Keith Simmonite warned that taking the short-term approach “may prove expensive in the longer term”.

” Short-term cost-saving may prove expensive in the longer term “
– Keith Simmonite, CIWM
The comments of the new president of the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management Exhibition and Conference concerned the treatment of organic household waste in particular.

He said councils that take the cheaper option of building composting plants that cannot then be converted to treat food waste could face higher costs in future.

Mr Simmonite said: “Short-term cost-saving may prove expensive in the longer term if facilities being commissioned today cannot handle, or be upgraded to handle a commingled kitchen and green waste stream.”

Markets
The new CIWM president, who spent 40 years at Sheffield city council before retiring from that role in 1997, also raised questions over whether the market for compost produced from household waste will keep up with all the new local authority collection schemes starting up.

He said the issue of finding markets for collected materials represented the “main challenge” to local authorities along with the need to increase public participation in recycling schemes. And, he said the upsurge in green waste collections would be the “greatest challenge” of all.

Structure
Elsewhere in his speech, Mr Simmonite said a shake-up of local government structure would not be needed to address waste targets – provided councils work together to address collection and treatment issues.

“The cheapest refuse collection service often involves more expensive treatment and disposal costs – and the reverse is also true,” he said. “It follows, therefore, that to achieve best value these services should not be reviewed in isolation from each other.

“In order to reach the lowest cost the constituent district and county council services should be examined together,” Mr Simmonite said.

Charging
As local authority funding for waste hit the front pages of national newspapers yesterday (see letsrecycle.com story), Mr Simmonite suggested that changing the way local authorities charge for waste would be the only way to meet European waste targets.

“New requirements for change in waste management practice have a significant cost implication,” he said.

“Without the recognition of this cost increase and the provision of adequate funding for both staff and new infrastructure, we will fall short in meeting our European commitments.

“Direct charging at the local level, or increased national and local ring-fenced service-specific funding would appear to be the only two options available,” Mr Simmonite said.