Blaenau Gwent county borough council, which is run by independent councillors, runs an in-house civic amenity site for its 69,000 residents through Silent Valley, a teckal company.
Statistics from Waste Data Flow suggest that around 1,100 tonnes of waste wood per year is collected at Blaenau Gwent’s recycling centre, which is sent to Kronospan and Norbord in the panelboard sector, and “other exempt facilities”.
In-house
However, in a meeting held behind closed doors on 21 September, the council’s executive agreed to “take the outline business case for the development of a Regional Wood Waste Recycling Facility to the next stage”.
The business case presented to the council looked at a potential public owned facility in partnership with the Welsh Government and other Welsh local authorities.
This was supported by £541,000 of funding from the Welsh Government, announced in 2018 (see letsrecycle.com story)
Targets
The development of the Wood Waste Recycling Facility, according to the council, will also “contribute substantially to Wales’s current resources and its statutory recycling targets”.
Blaenau Gwent county borough council’s executive member for environment Cllr Joanna Wilkins said: “We are currently exploring how the council and its partners could develop their own Wood Waste Recycling Facility.
“The benefits include significant savings for local authorities for example through reduced haulage mileage and costs as well as the environmental benefits; the reduction in CO2 and NO2 emissions associated with transporting and treating waste wood. Such a facility would also support our recycling targets and our commitment to the Welsh Government’s Low Carbon agenda to tackle climate change”.
Recycling
Blaenau Gwent, around 30 miles north of Cardiff, borders the unitary authority areas of Monmouthshire and Torfaen to the east, Caerphilly to the west and Powys to the north.
It achieved a recycling rate of 59% in 2019.
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