CALDERDALE MBC
AGENDA ITEM 7
WARDS AFFECTED: ALL
CABINET
5th JUNE 2006
DRAFT WASTE MANAGEMENT STRATEGY
Report of the Head of Environmental Health
1.
ISSUE
1.1
The need to consider the options for waste management in Calderdale.
2.
NEED FOR A DECISION
2.1
To have in place a strategy that addresses the challenging requirements of
waste minimisation, recycling and waste disposal.
3.
RECOMMENDATION
3.1
That Members approve the Draft Waste Management Strategy as a basis for
consultation.
3.2
To require the Head of Environmental Health to report to a future Cabinet on
the feedback from the consultation.
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4.
BACKGROUND
4.1
Cabinet at the meeting on the 18th July 2005 considered a report on Waste
Management Strategy (Minute Number 45/B24) and resolved that “approval
be given to a review of the Waste Management Strategy”. Officers have
reviewed the existing Strategy and all Members have received a draft version
of the proposed replacement for the existing Strategy. Appendix 1 of this
report is an executive summary of the Draft Strategy.
4.2
In addition Cabinet at the meetings on the 11th January 2006 (Minute Number
140/B81) and the 13th February 2006 (Minute Number 167/B98) have
considered reports on the option of joint procurement, with the City of Bradford
MDC, of alternative waste disposal solutions and approved that joint action.
The approval of this procurement method does not predetermine the type of
disposal solution, that choice remains to be informed by the consultation on
this Draft Strategy.
4.3
The Draft Waste Management Strategy:  summarises the present operational arrangement,
 details National and Regional Strategies and their impact,
 considers the legislative and other drivers for change,
 outlines options in methods of both waste collection and disposal, and
 appraises those options.
4.4
The key issues that will attract public interest are:  options concerning methods of waste disposal, is energy from waste an
acceptable disposal method?
 what level of recycling is achievable at reasonable cost?
 can wheeled bins provide an acceptable collection method in Calderdale?
4.5
Consideration of the Draft Waste Management Strategy comes at an
interesting time as the Government have just completed the consultation on
the review of England’s Waste Strategy. This process started on the 14 th
February and ran for 12 weeks until the 9 th May 2006. The National review
considered the following:  energy from waste should have a clearer role to play, but not at the
expense of prevention or recycling;
 proposed higher targets set for household recycling and composting for
2010, 2015 and 2020;
 links between waste and other policies, such as sustainable
consumption and production, energy and climate change;
 recognises the need for integration between municipal and other waste
streams to gain potential economies of scale from more integrated
collection, management and recovery of municipal and non-municipal
waste;
 to establish a Sustainable Waste Programme Board comprising
interested Government departments, the Environment Agency and
representatives of local authority interests to drive delivery and review
progress of the implementation of the revised waste strategy.
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4.6
The Draft Waste Management Strategy is intended to set the direction of
travel for many years to come. It will inform the choice of disposal method,
this will result in a long term, 25 or 30 year, contractual commitment and it will
inform the specification of the replacement collection contract, due to
commence in August 2008 for a period of 5 or 7 years.
5.
CONSULTATION
5.1
It is proposed that the Draft Strategy is made available for consultation and
comment as widely as possible. This process to include focus groups of
Calderdale residents and special interest groups and presentations to Town
and Parish Councils and other interested parties. The document will be made
available both electronically and in hard copy and comment will be invited.
Part of this process has already commenced in that questions about possible
collection methods were included in a recent Talk Back survey and in the faceto-face survey carried out at the beginning of the year. This second survey
was structured to cover a range of property types to test the relationship
between preferred collection method and property.
5.2
The results of the consultation exercise will be put before Members when the
Strategy is brought back to Cabinet in September for consideration and final
approval.
6.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
6.1
The costs associated with the consultation process will be contained within
existing budgetary provision. The cost of implementing the changes necessary
to deliver the Waste Management Strategy implications are not fully known at
this point and will ultimately depend on a range of factors including the results
of joint working with Bradford. The Council’s medium term financial strategy
recognises that the associated costs will rise significantly above general
inflation in later years and funding will need to be identified to address this in
the future.
There is the possibility of limited direct or ring-fenced grants to offset some of
the costs; however this is likely only to be relatively short term and for
particular aspects. The total costs of the Waste Management Strategy will,
therefore, need to be considered alongside all other calls on the Council's
resources.
In that context the Council will need, in its response to the recommended
consultation, to consider affordability as an issue in determining its future
Waste Management Strategy since additional resources allocated to this
strategy will, by definition, reduce resources available for other priorities.
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7.
CONCLUSION
7.1
The range of drivers for change in waste management are such that
alternative solutions for waste disposal and innovative methods of waste
collection need to be adopted. The Draft Strategy considers the present state
of knowledge and options for change. However the Strategy when approved
needs to be considered as a living document and will only deliver workable
solutions for Calderdale if it is flexible in approach and responsive to change.
Peter Ramsdale
Head of Environmental Health
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON THIS REPORT CONTACT:
Peter Ramsdale, Head of Environmental Health
TELEPHONE: - Halifax 392301
DOCUMENTS USED IN THE PREPARATION OF THIS REPORT:
Calderdale: Options Appraisal for Residual Waste by Eunomia
DOCUMENTS ARE AVAILABLE FOR INSPECTION AT:
Environmental Health Services, Northgate House, HALIFAX HX1 1UN
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Appendix 1
Executive Summary
Draft Waste Management Strategy March 2006
Introduction
The Draft Waste Management Strategy outlines the future roadmap for dealing with
household waste in a sustainable way for the next 25/30 years. It builds on previous
Council waste strategy decisions, updates decisions made and takes account of
current waste management issues and the Best Practical Environmental Options
(BPEO) study completed by DEFRA funded consultants (Eunomia). In particular it
examines in some detail the complex issues that must be taken into account in
decision making on waste management.
Structure of the Draft Waste Management Strategy
The Draft Strategy looks at the infrastructure of the Borough in the context of its
waste management needs, the current waste management provision, actual waste
composition and considers these issues against both national and local
requirements.
Finally in the Options Selection the Draft Strategy makes
recommendations for the future of waste management in Calderdale.
Issues Examined in the Waste Management Strategy
This Draft Strategy establishes a need for change that will have far reaching
repercussions, driven by fiscal measures such as the Landfill Tax and the Landfill
Allowance Trading Scheme (LATS). Both of which will have detrimental financial
impact for Council unless promptly and adequately addressed. In addition to fiscal
measures, environmental legislation and in particular the Landfill Regulations 2005,
will require the Council to change or reduce the predominant method of disposal from
landfill.
The Draft Strategy establishes beyond reasonable doubt, that if nothing is done, a
significant gap will exists between what legislation will allow the authority to landfill,
and what the authority will need to landfill, in order to discharge its duty under the
Environmental Protection Act 1990. To prevent this situation occurring a strategy is
put forward to guide Calderdale’s actions through this very difficult time in local
authority waste management.
The changes required are dealt with in depth and include proposed changes to the
household waste collection system. These will enable more recyclable materials to
be collected, thus reducing and diverting waste that would otherwise need to go to
landfill for disposal. The benefits of improvements to the Household Waste Recycling
Sites to increase the capture rate of delivered recyclates are also considered. The
Draft Strategy examines the alternative to landfill and the best means of obtaining
access to new methods of waste treatment. The Strategy acknowledges that some
landfill will be required for the residues of waste processing, but at a reduced rate
that will be within the allowed landfill allowance trading limits.
The issues of waste reduction and waste reuse are realistically examined in the
context of their contributions to the existing situation. Contributions from recycling
and composting are acknowledged and play an important part in the
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recommendations made in the Options Selection section of the Draft Waste
Management Strategy.
Two sections of the Draft Waste Management Strategy, Waste Management Options
and Options Appraisal address the core issues of the strategy. That is initially, how
to reduce waste arisings needing treatment, and in the second case how to deal with
the waste in a sustainable way, treating waste more as a resource once it is
collected.
The Draft Strategy in section 4.7 considers the need for full public consultation and
acknowledges that more needs to be done. Initial efforts have been made to
communicate with the public on waste strategy issues, communication has principally
involved:
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The Recycle for Calderdale Campaign.
The Home Composting Campaign.
Radio Advertising.
Recycling Rewards for Schools Campaign.
Calderdale Call.
Talkback
The Calderdale Waste Partnership.
The Householder Survey 2006.
Recommendations Made
Before making recommendations in the Options Selection the Draft Strategy melds
the views of the BPEO study of 2005, with the findings of the strategy itself, and
contrasts Eunomia's findings with that of the Waste Strategy, and concludes that
there is a good measure of agreement between the two documents. Eunomia's
analysis is drawn on extensively to backup the opinions and conclusions made in this
section of the strategy. No “Best Technology” is suggested for Calderdale, and this
position justified. However short term and long term tactics are identified that will
deal with the waste gap and prevent the Council from falling into the LATS trap. The
recommendations made are as follows:
Short Term
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Educate the public to reduce, reuse, and minimise waste.
Make determined efforts to improve the recycling rates at the Household
Waste Recycling Sites were 38% of the waste arisings are delivered.
Increase the Council recycling rate to the highest rate economically achievable
beyond Government targets.
As soon as possible reorganise the refuse collection service to reduce the
residual waste arisings and increase the tonnage and type of recyclates
collected.
Consider a pilot kitchen waste collection system with possible roll out across
the Borough.
Identify land within Calderdale suitable for waste processing facilities.
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Long Term
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Work jointly with Bradford to procure a joint waste processing facility to
become operational by April 1st 2010.
This joint contract to be on an output based specification basis on a 25/30
year basis.
The contract will not specify a particular technology, but will specify the
outputs required, in terms of landfill diversion rates and recycling rates,
commensurate with economic operation.
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