South London councils report ‘lowest levels of residual waste since 2010’

The report shows that between April 2022- March 2023 the four boroughs which make up the partnership delivered 195,239 tonnes of residual waste to Viridor for processing.

This represents a 11,274 tonne (6%) fall from the same period last year, “and is the lowest annual tonnage generated by the boroughs since 2010 when contract performance monitoring reporting to the Joint Committee commenced”.

The report also shows the partnership recorded a 37.3% recycling rate for all waste in the reporting period compared to a 39% in 2021/22. 100% of waste was diverted from landfill according to the report and this figure is the same as reported during the same period last year.

The SLWP manages more than 350,000 tonnes of waste from 1 million residents in Croydon, Kingston, Merton, and Sutton. The figures also include non-household waste.

Falling waste volumes have been recorded by councils across the UK, as household budgets continue to be stretched by rising interest rates and the cost-of-living crisis.

Emissions

There were nine emissions breaches at the Beddington EfW between April 1, 2022, and March 31 2023.

Viridor have indicated that the likely cause of several of the emission breaches are gas bottles going through the facility which, if they explode, can result in a spike in emissions. At previous committees the issue of the increases in large gas cannisters has been discussed. And measures to counter this have been implemented including, driver training, loader training, and waste ‘blend’ training.

The report summarises the occurrence of a recent exceedance of the 30-minute average Emission Limit Value for Sulphur Dioxide on 17^th March 2023. This was put down to a failure of the ERF’s lime dosing equipment. It is likely the Environmental Agency will consider this a period of “abnormal operation” and will not count to an operations breach.

HWRCs

The partnership also manages six household waste and recycling centres (HWRCs) through its contract with Veolia.

Between April 1 2022- March 31 2023 the SLWP recorded a 64% recycling rate from its network, which is the same rate from the previous reporting period.

Expansion

SLWP continues to make regular contact with the Environment Agency to seek clarification on the timescale for the determination of Viridor’s application as to date no clear timescale has been provided by the Environmental Agency.

If the application is approved Viridor will be allowed to treat up to 10% more waste at the Beddington plant.

The SLWP boroughs have made their objection to the application clear and submitted a joint written representation to the EA during the initial consultation period.