Profit v planet

What is the primary purpose of diverting wastes from landfill? This is a crucial question for government and the answer is on one hand very simple but the delivery of appropriate solutions is complex.

The correct simple answer is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions which clearly means wastes should be managed as a resource but crucially in an energy efficient and sustainable manner, otherwise there is little point in the recycling industry.

The organics sector has, on the whole, been successful in diverting large volumes of material from landfill and turning these into a good quality soil conditioner, and, in recent years, combining this with harvesting gas through AD plants.

However, there are increasing problems within the organics sector primarily in terms of nuisance in terms of odour, poor quality output of soil conditioners contaminated with plastic, lower than expected gas yields and poorly performing plants. In addition, in some parts of the country there are several sites close to each other and in other areas nowhere near enough facilities.

Policy

The primary reason for poorly performing sites is low gate fees; it is clear that many sites operate on a loss making basis and whilst this is not necessarily a government concern, it becomes an issue when these sites cause significant neighbour issues or become bankrupt.

It is also clear that there is a lack of policy in the whole area of diverting material from landfill. The ‘market’ is a crude instrument in delivering environmentally sustainable solutions.

Currently recycling is predicated purely on the traditional business model of making financial profit which does not necessarily equate with the goal of ensuring the primary purpose of reducing greenhouse gas emissions compared to landfill. This is not the fault of business as it is the clear duty of a business to make a profit. But, as indicated above, a number of businesses are trying to gain extra revenue by increasing volume by ‘buying’ market share and finding they cannot operate to regulatory standards, let alone an energy efficient model.

Government needs to set clear policy for the whole waste sector and in particular with the organics sector to ensure facilities are not only managed well in terms of regulatory compliance but in terms of whole life energy efficiencies.

Efficiency

On a fundamental level this is very simple, wastes (resources) should be collected in the most energy efficient manner possible, ideally on gas vehicles powered by gas produced from AD plants. Waste should not travel long distances, there needs to be sufficient processing capacity to deal with waste arisings in any one area.

Plastic should be banned from food and organic wastes and only fully compostable packaging materials should be used.

The conversion process of organic waste to gas and soil conditioners must be in an energy efficient manner and the resultant materials that are beneficial to land should be applied relatively close to the production plant.

In other words the whole process from collecting of organic wastes, through the processing of these wastes and the distribution of the resultant products, must be done in an energy efficient manner and in compliance with strict regulatory controls. The financial cost of this process needs to be value for money, not necessarily the lowest cost.

These are key points that can only be addressed by government if it wants to ensure a healthy recycling industry that genuinely helps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, provides significant employments and a crucial service and good value for money without causing nuisance to the wider population