However, the Partnership has admitted that meeting the target will depend on its residents increasing the amount of waste that they recycle.
” We are confident that we are on track to meet, or even beat, our landfill targets and therefore avoid any possible government fines. “
– Cllr Joyce Barrow, Shropshire Waste Partnership
Shropshire, along with all other waste disposal authorities in England, has been limited to the amount they can send to landfill. Its annual limits on the amount of biodegradable waste it sends to landfill include 67,395 tonnes in 2010.
The partnership – which includes the county council and the districts of Bridgnorth, North Shropshire, South Shropshire, and Oswestry – sent 77,173 tonnes of biodegradable material to landfill in 2005/06 – down from 89,249 tonnes in 2003/04.
Hopes are that the tonnage to landfill will continue to drop as long as the county's recycling rate, which was almost 29% in 2004/05, continues to rise.
“On track”
Cllr Joyce Barrow, chairman of Shropshire Waste Partnership, said: “With the help of Shropshire's residents, we are confident that we are on track to meet, or even beat, our landfill targets and therefore avoid any possible government fines.”
The county is currently looking for a long-term waste treatment partner to divert further waste from landfill. Currently Veolia and Biffa are preferred bidders for the contract. Any plant built to treat Shropshire's waste would probably come on line after 2010, meaning the partnership will need to meet its targets through recycling alone until then.
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Cllr Barrow said: “We have known about these targets for some years and all of the councils have been working hard, and successfully, together to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill sites and to increase the amount that is recycled or composted.
“Our recycling levels are at record levels and are growing all the time, and every year we are sending less and less waste to landfill,” she added.
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