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NEWS May 2014 Local Authority Waste & Recycling 5 FOR MORE NEWS AND ANALYSIS VISIT www.edie.net /waste Contamination of source-segre- gated recyclate 'generally low' Contamination levels for source-segregated municipal and business recyclate in the UK are "generally low", according to new research. The findings were published in a study entitled 'Contamination in source-separated municipal and business recyclate in the UK 2013'. Search 'Contamination' Shanks sells MRF to Glasgow City Council Waste management firm Shanks Group has confirmed that it has completed the sale of its materials recycling facility in Blochairn to Glasgow City Council. Search 'Shanks' LGA publishes 'Routes to reuse' report The Local Government Association (LGA) is urging retailers to expand or introduce take-back services for unwanted goods to divert them away from landfill and encourage reuse. It showed that households were binning servicable goods worth over £400m every year. Search 'LGA' Councils spend billions on collections Local authorities in England spent £3.9bn managing household waste collections in 2012/13, according to new research by the Audit Commission. Search 'Councils' Online Exclusives edieWaste Helping people make business sustainable There are significant capacity gaps in regional infrastructure, in England, to treat valuable materials which arise as wastes, a new report com- missioned by waste management company Veolia Environnement has found. The Veolia-commissioned report is entitled 'Waste Infrastructure Requirements for England'. Veolia commissioned researchers at Imperial College London (Centre for Environmental Policy) to produce the report after a similar report was published by the Department for the Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) in February 2013. That report looked at whether there was enough waste recovery infrastructure for England's municipal waste as a whole, and found that while the level of net capacity is what Defra describes as "uncertain", the mean surplus of capacity in 2020 is estimated to be 2.4m tonnes. However, in Veolia's new report it questioned the "framing of the overall Defra approach", particularly in regards to "the limitations in the forecast model used… and assumptions made", which it argues could be "misleading, particularly when used for the types of decisions for which they provided support". As a result of this, Veolia commissioned its own report to "review the methodology used [by Defra] to estimate capacity needs across the UK", as it argues that "the methodological approach is critical as the potential of the findings to support decision making will depend on the validity of the assumptions and the calculations used". The Waste Infrastructure for England report used a different methodology. It found that Defra's findings were "rather misleading". Veolia technical director Richard Kirkman warned that the UK will have insufficient resources recovery infrastructure in the future and this will hamper the circular economy. Significant gaps in regional waste infrastructure, study finds Norfolk County Council ceases EfW contract Norfolk County Council's Cabinet has voted to abandon its King's Lynn energy-from-waste (EfW) contract with Cory Wheelabrator. The decision came following a full council meeting last month (7 April), described as "extraordi- nary" by councillors. The meeting saw 48 council- lors vote in favour of terminating the King's Lynn incinerator con- tract. There were 30 votes against, and one abstention. Councillors recommended that the council's waste contract with the Cory Wheelabrator consortium should be abandoned on the grounds that it has failed to secure planning permission. Cory Wheelabrator is a partner- ship of UK waste management firm Cory Environmental and American incineration specialist Wheelabrator. In August 2012 the planning application for the EfW plant was called in for determination by the Government. Following a planning inquiry last year (2013), the Communities Secretary, Eric Pickles, said a decision would be made on or before 14 January 2014. No decision has been announced, and a report published on 7 April recommended termina- tion of the contract to minimise the potential financial impact of continuing delay, rising costs and increasing risks. In a statement, Norfolk County Council said: "When the contract was signed, savings of over £250m were guaranteed over its 23 years, compared to landfill. The report to Council and Cabinet said that the Secretary of State's failure to make a decision was costing around £140,000 a day, and by June the projected savings would have disappeared. "The escalating cost of con- tinuing delay follows the Government's decision last November to withdraw Waste Infrastructure Grant worth £169m over the lifetime of the contract." It has been suggested by Norfolk County Council that the cost of terminating the contract is esti- mated to be £30.26m, compris- ing capped compensation to Cory Wheelabrator of £20.3m, contrac- tor public inquiry costs of £1.6m and exchange rate and interest rate related costs of £8.36m. The Cabinet agreed that these costs should be met through a £19m contingency reserve built up for the purpose, £3m from the council's 2013/14 under spend, and £8m from general reserves, on the basis that the council takes immediate steps to replenish those reserves. Cabinet will con- sider the options at its meeting on 12 May. A spokesman from Cory Wheelabrator said it was "extreme- ly disappointed" as "many years of hard work have gone into this project by the consortium and Norfolk County Council". 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