The report, Leeds State of the Environment Report, was produced by the Leeds Initiative, the city's local strategic partnership led by Leeds city council.
It reveals that the amount of waste generated by the 312,000 properties in Leeds has risen from 265,000 tonnes in 1997-98 to 328,648 tonnes in 2001-02, and is predicted to go on rising.
 The Leeds Initiative report says the public is not being converted to reducing or recycling waste |
The report says: “The total amount of household waste is increasing by nearly 7%. This growth is faster than both the government and Leeds Waste Strategy predicted figure of 3%.”
It goes on to say: “The cost of refuse collection and waste management to the city is over 23 million – or 74 per household – per year. This cost will increase above the rate of inflation because of the progressive increase in the Landfill Tax. The growth in waste and incremental rise of Landfill Tax will cost the council an additional 500,000 year-on-year until 2005-06, when it will increase even more significantly as Landfill Tax rises from a 1 per tonne
increase annually to a 3 per tonne annual increase.”
At the moment, about 87% of waste from Leeds goes to landfill, while 12% is recycled. The city council has Local Public Service Agreement targets to recycle 15.1% of household waste by March 2003 and 22.7% by 2005.
Incineration
However, according to report, the growth rate for Leeds' waste, at about twice the national average, could mean the need for waste treatment including incineration to meet landfill diversion targets.
The report says: “The amount that waste grows each year will have a significant impact on planning and the cost of future waste management options. It could, for example, have implications for the number of incinerators or other waste treatment sites required to meet EU targets on landfill diversion. The variations in volume that a 1% difference in the growth of waste are significant – a 1% variation from 2% to 3% will result in an additional 115,000 tonnes of waste being generated in Leeds by 2020.”
Prosperity
The growth in waste has, in part, been caused by the expansion of the city and its economic prosperity. The report says that there is still a projected increase in the number of households in Leeds, of 37,000 by 2020.
However, despite a new green bin recycling service for paper, plastic bottles, cardboard, steel and aluminium cans covering 130,000 households, the report says: “There are signs that the public is not being converted to reducing or recycling waste beyond current levels.”
The council is planning to extend the kerbside service to a further 110,000 households in 2003-04, and has been awarded 500,000 from DEFRA for a recycling scheme for 8,500 multi-storey households.
In a statement to letsrecycle.com, Councillor Gerry Harper, executive board member with responsibility for waste management, said: “We are aware that further improvement is still needed and so we are expanding our kerbside recycling scheme across the whole city and improving our household waste sites to make recycling much easier and convenient for the people of Leeds.
“We have challenging recycling targets to meet but we are pleased
with our progress in recent years, which has seen our recycling rate rise to 12.7%. A new education and awareness campaign is also being introduced to promote these improved services.”
He added: “Reaching our recycling target is a priority for Leeds city council and substantial investment is being made to enable us to reach it.”
For more information about the Leeds Initiative, visit www.leedsinitiative.org.
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