The boroughs of Merton, Kingston, Sutton and Croydon have already formed a partnership – the South London Waste Partnership – but now hope to gain formal recognition as a full Joint Waste Authority.
” It is likely that the separate collection of food waste will be an integral part of the SLWP strategy “
– Councillor Tariq Ahmad, Merton council
If the government gives it the go ahead, it would give the new authority direct control to let waste contracts, own assets and employ waste management staff to help the councils meet challenging landfill diversion targets from 2010.
A formal joint waste authority will also mean the boroughs' targets and landfill allowances can be managed together.
The move to form a new joint waste authority will come under legislation changes currently moving through Parliament to allow councils to formally merge their waste services (see letsrecycle.com story).
In a joint statement the councils said once the Local Government Bill becomes law, negotiations would begin on forming an authority.
“These negotiations are likely to take at least a year to complete, but are an important step as there are plans to make a significant investment to improve the waste management infrastructure and services that are currently in place,” the boroughs explained.
Contracts
The members of the South London Waste Partnership have already put three joint short-term contracts out for tender to cover landfill, transfer stations, civic amenity sites, the sorting of recyclable and in-vessel composting.
Known as phase A, these contracts are due to be awarded by the end of the year and will provide over 400,000 tonnes of new waste treatment capacity for when the boroughs' existing waste disposal contracts expire in 2008.
The partnership is then planning to let a second raft of contracts known as phase B in 2008 which will look at new technologies to treat residual waste. This is hoped to create a further 200,000 tonnes-a-year of waste treatment capacity by 2012.
An SLWP spokesperson said: “The procurement of new facilities and services will be made over two phases and will be focused around the need to meet landfill allowance targets set for 2010,2013 and 2020. With the help and support of our residents, I am confident that the SLWP will be successful in diverting significant amounts of waste from landfill.”
Gains
Rachel Willsher, senior policy officer for strategic services at the Royal Borough of Kingston, who is leading on the procurement for the partnership, explained that there would be significant efficiency gains for the boroughs in taking a partnership approach.
She said: “The partnership will save money through economies of scale and enables us to attract more competitive bids. The boroughs will also be able to run education and awareness campaigns together.”
Initiatives
One of the first initiatives under the South London Waste Partnership is to introduce weekly food waste collection trials in collaboration with the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP).
The move comes after the government endorsed separate food waste collections as a effective way of boosting recycling in its new waste strategy last week (see letsrecycle.com story).
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In Merton, this means that 2,000 homes in Ravensbury are receiving weekly food waste collections from this month for a year. Food is taken to Viridor Waste Management's composting facility at Beddington lane in Sutton where it is composted in line with the Animal By Product Regulations.
Merton's cabinet member for the environment and traffic management, Councillor Tariq Ahmad, said: “Food waste makes up approximately 23% of household waste in Merton and it is likely that the separate collection of food waste will be an integral part of the SLWP strategy. We hope that if the trial proves a success, we will extend it to other parts of the borough.”
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