The company said that the sites are still accepting soils but are no longer receiving any residual waste.
A Valencia spokesperson told letsrecycle.com: “‘The temporary pause has been extended to all sites to allow for engineering works.”
The announcement follows confirmation earlier this week that it had closed two of its Northern sites – the Pilsworth and Erin landfills – to residual waste.
Valencia’s Pilsworth landfill, near Bury, had previously been scrutinised for odour issues.
Valencia’s other available landfill in the North of England, Erin landfill in Derbyshire, is closed to residual waste amid ongoing engineering works. It was the target of odour complaints as recently as last week.
Both landfill sites are still open to inert and restoration waste, and the company described such closures to residual waste as “routine”.
A spokesperson for Valencia told letsrecycle.com earlier this week: “Our sites remain operational, and continue to be managed in line with our environmental permit requirements.”
Now, the company has confirmed that all seven of its active landfills are now closed.
These are:
- Heathfield landfill (Devon)
- Walpole landfill (Somerset)
- Shelford landfill (Kent)
- Masons landfill (Suffolk)
- Erin landfill (Derbyshire)
- Pilsworth South landfill (Lancashire)
- Dunbar landfill (East Lothian)
Valencia became one of the UK’s largest landfill operators after being selected to operate landfills previously owned by Viridor in 2022.
Alongside its seven “open” landfills, it also manages 36 sites across the UK that are currently “either closed, mothballed, or undergoing restoration”.
Landfill crisis in the North of England
Including the Valencia closures, several landfill sites in the North of England have reached capacity or otherwise closed their doors in recent months, meaning the loss of reportedly at least one million tonnes of capacity.
Insiders said the development is a “perfect storm” as demand from Energy from Waste (EfW) is down due to the summer months, making it even harder to find a home for the displaced tonnage.
At the same time, haulage costs are currently high due to the conflict in the Middle East, making it more expensive for companies to transport waste to the south for treatment.
The crisis has seen many operators forced to close overnight and has created a major shortage of disposal capacity, which in turn has caused gate fees to soar.
One source told letsrecycle.com that they had seen prices rise to between £200 and £250 per tonne, while another said they had risen by as much as 90% in the space of a week and are now over £250.
The closure has affected operators and local authorities across the North, including in Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Lancashire, South Yorkshire and Derbyshire.
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