West Country residents asked for views on waste treatment

The councils have formed a group called the West of England Waste and Planning Partnership, with the eventual aim of finding a waste management partner to divert residual municipal waste from landfill.

” Feedback from this initial exercise will assist us in going forward with more detailed consultations in future. “
– Steve Evans, South Gloucestershire council
Bristol city council, South Gloucestershire council, Bath & North East Somerset and North Somerset council have a long history of working together, most recently in transport.

An informal awareness campaign was launched in Bristol in July to raise awareness and seek views from the public on waste management, which ends next week.

The partnership aims to gather as much intelligence as possible before a more detailed consultation process takes place early in 2007.

Under the banner “Rubbish or Resource?”, the campaign has included a series of roadshows held in shopping centres as well as public meetings for residents to air their views. An industry consultation day was also held.

The campaign has highlighted options including composting and anaerobic digestion, mechanical biological treatment (MBT), autoclaving, advanced thermal treatment technologies and energy-from-waste.

Interest
Steve Evans, director of community services at South Gloucestershire council, said: “The Rubbish or Resource campaign is intended to stimulate the public’s interest in the wider issues of waste management. Feedback from this initial exercise will assist us in going forward with more detailed consultations in future.

“This is all part of a long term strategy of engagement with stakeholders and dialogue with industry in order to meet the requirement to divert municipal solid waste from landfill and avoid LATS penalties,” Mr Evans added.

The 2007 consultation should help identify key issues and options as well as potential locations and treatment technologies to help improve waste management in the area. The partnership said the advantages and disadvantages of each option would then be presented to the stakeholders for consideration.

The partnership has sought guidance from the Environment Agency and the Government Office South West as well as central government departments like Defra and the DCLG in the process. Help has also come from Defra's Local Authority Support Unit including the provision of consultants.