The story so far

Currently, we recycle 36 per cent of our household waste, with the remainder going to landfill sites across Gloucestershire. Not only is this going to cost local taxpayers considerable amounts of money in the future, but the existing sites are becoming full, and harmful greenhouse gases (including methane that is 21 times more harmful than carbon dioxide) are being released into the atmosphere. By landfilling, we are also ignoring the possibility of creating something useful, like energy or heat, from our waste. 

Feedback from local people says that you would like the council to find a better way of dealing with our waste than burying it.

The cost of landfill

Central government is charging local councils more than double what they used to for every tonne of waste put into landfill. Now is the time for us to find a more environmentally friendly and cost effective way of dealing with real rubbish.

Disposing of landfill is not cheap and it is set to become more expensive. We are currently charged £32 by the government in tax for every tonne of waste we put into landfill. This is on top of what we are charged by the landfill owners to use their sites. This year the council expects to pay £6.4 million in landfill tax alone. Landfill tax increases every year, and next year it will be £40 per tonne.

In addition, to try and make councils find other solutions to landfill, we are now being given a limit by government on how much we can landfill each year (and this limit will reduce year on year). If we exceed our limit, it is likely we will be fined £150 for every tonne of biodegradable waste over our limit.

Finding a better was to deal with real rubbish is an objective set-out in the Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy, which has been signed-up to by the county council and all six district councils. Click here for more information on the strategy

What are the other options?

The council started investigating 34 different ways to deal with real rubbish. This was narrowed down to 19, and then to 5 on the basis of our individual requirements as a county, plus whether the method was proven, reliable and safe. We also set up a focus group that highlighted what was most important to local people when considering a new alternative to landfill. The issues raised were used to evaluate the technologies.

The five technologies are:

• Energy from Waste with Combined Heat & Power (CHP).
• Mechanical Biological Treatment (MBT) producing a biologically stabilised material that is sent to landfill.
• Mechanical Biological Treatment (MBT) producing a fuel sent to a dedicated CHP.
• Autoclave producing recyclates and an active fibre fuel that is sent to power dedicated CHP.
• Advanced Thermal Treatment with syngas used to produce electricity and recovery of heat energy (CHP).

Defra, the central government office responsible for waste management, have created a series of information booklets on the different methods. Download them by clicking here.

What happens next?

Rather than limit itself to the five options above, the council feels it is better to focus on what we need, rather than just what is commonly available. Waste is one of the fastest growing industries in the world, so the council wants to be able to consider new and different ways of doing things right up until it makes a final decision in 2010.

Therefore, the council will be inviting the private sector to put forward solutions as to how we deal with our real rubbish in Gloucestershire based on our needs – or the technical term: an output specification. This means that we will explain to the market what we need any technology to do, rather than specify the actual technology. Suggestions will be assessed on evaluation criteria that will include environmental issues, social issues, sustainability, flexibility, deliverability and cost.

Involving local people and organisations in developing the evaluation criteria is important to ensure that people have a say in how their rubbish is dealt with. Information on how to be included can be found on the consultation page.

Who will pay for all this?

Finding an alternative to landfill is expensive – hundreds of millions of pounds to get a solution up and running. Yet, even if we ignore our environmental responsibility to help reduce greenhouse gases, it is still more cost effective to find another solution than carrying-on as we are.

Private Funding Initiative (PFI)

Central government realise that most councils struggle on their existing budgets, and have provided access to grants through a scheme called private funding initiative (PFI), which is managed by Defra. Councils must make their case for funding and have to go through a rigorous process.

In April 2008, Gloucestershire County Council Cabinet approved the submission of an outline business case to central government (Defra) to officially begin the PFI application process. The cabinet also reiterated the council’s commitment to considering more than one facility on different sites and several technologies. The timeline page of this website illustrates the process the council is following, up to any new method being in operation by 2015. 

The outline business case had to include a reference project.  Defra requires that councils applying for PFI to support waste projects select a reference waste technology that can used as an example. The reference project must include technical and financial information specific to the project, such as the amount of waste to be disposed of and the budget available from the council. As part of our reference project, we have to take into account all of the targets set in the JMWMS, such as Gloucestershire obtaining its 60 per cent recycling and composting target by 2020.

The reference project in our outline business case is based on an energy from waste (EfW) facility that may deliver combined heat and power.  This technology was one of the five technology listed above.

It should be stressed that the reference project does not represent the county council’s preferred solution. The council will be asking the private sector to come forward with suggestions based on our needs. In a similar way to selecting a new car, you might know you want it to have four doors, be economical to run, have good safety record, and space for the family, but you have an open mind to the model you may end up with.

The Cabinet confirmed this at a meeting in April 2008 to approve the submission of the outline business case as part of our application for private finance initiative to central government. It stated: “This Cabinet reiterates its commitment to investigating a dispersed solution on a range of sites and to investigate the full range of technologies as identified in the Cabinet Report of November 2007. In addition, Full Council also agreed in May 2008 that: "GCC will not commit to the technology of a single site incinerator (Javelin Park/Hunts Grove site) without, investigating all of the options and considering the full range of available technologies, taking into account of the environmental as well as financial impact of each".

The council has been awarded £92 million of PFI credits to contribute towards the real rubbish project.