North London “urgently” needs new recycling plant

A report from head of waste strategy and contracts, Andrew Lappage, said that three MRFs are ultimately required by the Authority, each to process 100,000 tonnes annually, and “the first is required urgently”.

At the moment, dry recyclables from the commingled collections within four of the seven North London boroughs is “being transported far out of North London for sorting”, Mr Lappage said.

“The provision of a local facility would therefore reduce environmental impacts and increase strategic security of a suitable sorting service,” the report said.

The issue of the security of available sorting infrastructure was raised in the report following problems seen in MRFs in the south east of England, which have included a major fire at the Milton Keynes MRF (see letsrecycle.com story) and an Agency crackdown on perceived contamination problems at the Grosvenor MRF in Kent (see letsrecycle.com story).

Getting a new MRF put in place could be a “long and difficult process”, Mr Lappage warned, particularly in getting all-party agreements from the seven boroughs within the Authority. But he said: “For a materials recycling facility to be procured and built quickly, and for it to be affordable within the remaining term of the main waste disposal contract, we must act promptly now.”

Lead
Funding for the MRF might be made available from the London Recycling Fund, but sources of external funding could be time-consuming to secure for the project, the report said. It would therefore be necessary for the Authority itself to “take a strategic lead on the delivery of a North London MRF”, Mr Lappage said.

A new MRF would need to be modular in design, construction and operation to minimise expenditure on the plant before extra capacity is needed, the report suggested. And, the plant would have to be designed to allow for boroughs to switch between commingled or source-separated systems.

Formed in 1986, the North London Waste Authority includes Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Hackney, Haringey, Islington and Waltham Forest. The Authority awarded a 20-year waste contract to LondonWaste in 1994, the company joint-owned by SITA UK and the Authority itself.