LAWR

NEWS June 2015 Local Authority Waste & Recycling 5 FOR MORE NEWS AND ANALYSIS VISIT www.edie.net /waste Biffa has won an eight-year contract to provide street cleansing and household recycling and refuse collections for Manchester City Council. Collections are currently handled by staff from Enterprise Manchester, a joint venture between the council and Amey, while council workers provide the street services. In July, around 400 staff from both organisations will transfer to Biffa under their existing employment terms and conditions. Head of neighbourhood delivery Fiona Worrall noted Biffa's "impressive" track record in waste diversion and improving recycling rates: the firm has helped Ashford Borough Council quadruple its recycling rate from 12% to over 50%. In the past five years, recycling rates in Manchester have increased from 19% to 35%, but an update on progress in February highlighted a recent "levelling out". This has coincided with an increase in waste arisings which could push total waste disposal costs to £35.3m in 2015/16 – £1.3m higher than previous estimates. Manchester chooses Biffa to lift recycling FCC wins Torfaen contract FCC Environment has been awarded the contract to operate and manage Torfaen Borough County Council's new household waste recycling centre and waste transfer station in New Inn, Pontypool. A 75% recycling target has been set for the first year of the seven- year contract. This will be upped to 80% in years two to four and 85% in year five. In order to achieve the target recycling rates, new waste streams (including mattresses and carpets), will be introduced at the Pontypool HWRC. The contract also includes the routine maintenance and transportation of specific contract waste streams from the site to the waste transfer station and the council's nominated reprocessing or final disposal facilities. "Our previous household waste recycling centre was too small to cope with the range of materials we are now required to recycle," said Cllr John Cunningham, executive member for neighbourhood services at Torfaen Council. POINTS MEAN PRIZES – St Paul's Primary School is one of the four local causes that will benefit from the Tower Hamlets Community Points scheme to encourage residents to recycle more. Recycling target is top challenge Recycling rates in England continue to stagnate. According to the quarterly figures for July to September 2014, household recycling stood at 47.2%, up just 0.1% on the same period the previous year. The data, published by Defra on 7 May, also included figures for the 12 month period to September 2014, which showed: •Recycling reached 45%, up from 43.9% in the previous period; •Total waste generated by households increased 4%, with black bag waste up 2%; •Tonnages of materials recycled, composted or reused increased 6.6%; •Local authority managed waste going to landfill or incineration decreased 2%. The figures were released on the same day as the general election and, combined with a Conservative win, have increased fears that the 2020 household waste recycling targets will not be met. The Conservatives secured an overall majority in May's election – to the surprise of pollsters, commentators and party members – returning David Cameron to Number 10 and sparking another five years of austerity. The Conservatives' manifesto made no mention of waste policy. But the UK has a mandatory target, laid down in EU law, that requires half of household waste to be recycled by 2020. "A Conservative government will result in considerable repercussions for local authorities, waste collectors and processors," said Kristian Dales, sales and marketing director at FCC Environment. "It's likely to lead to further public spending cuts, which could potentially impact on municipal waste collections." There is also an in-out EU referendum to consider in 2017, which could have serious repercussions for the UK's waste management policies. pcruciatti/Shutterstock.com

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