Options for collection and disposal of Aberdeen’s waste and recycling outlined in new report
15/02/12
New options for collecting and disposing Aberdeen's waste and recycling have been presented to the council's Zero Waste Management Sub-committee.
The report, compiled by the council's waste technical advisor Halcrow, provides an overview of the various collection, treatment and disposal options that could be adopted to deliver the council's own Zero Waste Project, while meeting ambitious national and European recycling targets and reducing the dependency on landfill.
Halcrow was tasked by the council with addressing two key questions:
What is the best form of recycling collections for Aberdeen – commingled or kerbside sort?
How should Aberdeen City Council treat and dispose of its residual or black bin waste – landfill or energy from waste?
Commingled collection is the use of a single compartment on a waste vehicle for the collection of all dry recyclable waste, which includes paper and cardboard, glass bottles, plastic bottles and steel and aluminium cans. Kerbside sort is the system currently used in parts of the city.
Halcrow concludes that a commingled recycling collection is the most appropriate service for the city and recommends it be implemented using the following model:
In areas provided with individual wheeled bins, use split-body refuse collection vehicles to provide fortnightly collections of refuse and commingled recycling on alternative weeks with food waste collected weekly on the same vehicle;
In areas with gardens, use standard refuse collection vehicles to provide fortnightly collections of garden waste;
In areas provided with communal bin collections, use standard refuse collection vehicles to make individual collections of refuse, commingled recycling and food waste on an as required basis.
For the treatment and disposal of Aberdeen residual (black bin) waste, Halcrow concludes that a system using energy from waste is the most appropriate option.
Halcrow's recommendations were outlined in a report which went before today's [15 February] meeting of the Zero Waste Management Sub-committee.
Aberdeen City Council Waste and Recycling Manager, and report author, Peter Lawrence said: "The main advantages of the commingled recycling system are that we can provide easy and convenient new recycling services in multi-occupancy areas as well as reduce the cost of collecting food waste. By separating the food waste from garden waste there will also be added benefits of reduced processing costs for garden waste and more opportunity to 'flex' collection capacity with seasonal garden waste changes."
Commenting on Halcrow's conclusions regarding the treatment and disposal of residual waste, Mr Lawrence said: "Landfill sits at the bottom of the waste hierarchy and will, in future, be subject to regulation that will make it significantly more difficult and costly to landfill waste.
"Furthermore, the Scottish Government has set a limit on disposing of municipal waste to landfill of no more than 5% by 2025. In light of Halcrow's conclusion, adopting energy from waste is the preferred option for Aberdeen. How this is delivered is a complex matter. Options for Aberdeen City Council extend from developing a pre-treatment facility in Aberdeen combined with a waste-fired combined heat and power plant, to simply exporting Aberdeen's waste to other facilities in Scotland, the rest of the UK or abroad."
At today's meeting, councillors on the committee agreed:
that a commingled recycling collection is the recommended method for managing recycling waste in Aberdeen;
that the commingled recycling collection uses the model outlined above;
that the pre-treatment of mixed waste prior to the use of energy from waste technology is the recommended method for managing residual waste;
to instruct the council's Zero Waste Project Board to commence the development of a business case in line with the above recommendations.
Zero Waste Management Sub-committee Convener, Councillor Aileen Malone said: "We've been very successful at making rubbish 'disappear' for many years, but only at the expense of tax payers, not to mention the communities and environment close to the landfill sites where we've dumped our waste.
"Waste should no longer be seen as a problem. There are ways to get benefits from everything we throw away, providing we take a little care in how we do this. We can get value from all our waste through recycling, composting or other organic treatment and finally by developing high-efficiency combined heat and power production from the remaining mixed waste."
Officers will now start work on the details of implementing the actions agreed by councillors today [15 February] and anticipate bringing further detailed recommendations to the Zero Waste Management Sub-Committee in the summer.