Newark & Sherwood hangs hopes on unsorted waste compost

The Nottinghamshire council has named Bedminster and South Herts Waste Management as the preferred bidders for a 25-year &#39b;iomechanical composting' contract.

Unsegregated

Traditional bin collections would be undisturbed under the new contract, which would see unsegregated waste treated at a Bedminster plant similar to ones in the USA and Australia. The system, described as &#39b;iomechanical composting' would see metal recyclables extracted and organic materials broken down by bacteria into a compostable material.

The council is considering the scheme as an alternative to the fortnightly twin bin kerbside collections going on in other parts of Nottinghamshire.

Councillor Peter Harris said: “The district council had been invited to join a county council recycling scheme, under which all residents would receive an extra bin for recyclables such as paper and cans (but not glass). Many councillors were concerned about the practical difficulties faced by our householders in sorting their waste, the unpleasantness of having refuse collected only once a fortnight, and the costs to the council of purchasing bins and operating the new system.”

Cost

Duncan Kerr, strategic director of operations for Newark & Sherwood, said: “There's a cost to the district council in arranging the collections for twin bins. Recyclables and residual waste don't weight the same, which is a problem in terms of the number of vehicles needed.”

The district is expected to produce 45-50,000 tonnes waste each year for the term of the contract. It covers a largely rural area with a population of 100,000.

A council study showed that twin bins could raise recycling rates in the district to 27% within a few years, but Mr Kerr said he thought biomechanical composting could be the only way to meet higher targets of 50% or more. “We would need a very high compliance to meet future targets with the twin bin scheme,” he said. “With biomechanical composting, we can carry on with exactly the same refuse collection we always had but take it to the Bedminster plant, instead of a landfill site.”

South Herts Waste Management, which currently collects paper and manages CA sites in the district, and Bedminster are currently developing proposals and will report back to the council in December 2003.