South London councils report rise in residual waste volumes

The SLWP manages the transfer, treatment, recycling and disposal of material from the four London boroughs of Croydon, Kingston, Merton and Sutton

The report shows that during the time, the SLWP boroughs delivered 101,509 tonnes of residual waste to Viridor’s Beddington plant for processing. This represents a 3,045 tonne (3%) rise from the same period last year. The recycling rate for this time has not been disclosed.

This comes on the back of a 4% increase in residual waste volumes reported for quarter one for 2023/24.

The rising volumes follow waste volumes falling to their lowest level since 2010 (see letsrecycle.com story) in 2022/23. It recorded a recycling rate of 38% in this period. The levels however remain below that recorded in 2021/22, as outlined below.

Breaches

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.

At Viridor’s Beddington EfW, there were 0 emission breaches reported at the Beddington EfW between 1 April and 30 September 2023.

According to the report a closure of Beddington EFW between April and May 2023 lead to 0.41% of the residual waste collected by the partnership being sent to landfill.

HRRCs

The report highlights that there has been an increase in materials collected at household reuse and recycling sites (HRRC) sites in this reporting period when compared to last year.

The only exception was card waste which reported a 35% decrease when compared to the same period last year

Extension

Viridor South London has provided services under the Residual Waste Treatment contract since March 4, 2019.

In today’s report, the SLWP said it is recommended by an officer to continue services with Viridor and extend the contract to 15 September 2030.

The extension will see the waste transfer station operation extend to the Garth Road Waste transfer station in Merton.