HERTFORDSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL

WASTE MANAGEMENT CABINET PANEL

TUESDAY 14APRIL 2009 AT 2.00 P.M.

PERFORMANCE UPDATE

Report of the Director of Environment
Authors:Ray GreenallTel: 01992 556160
Executive Member: Derrick Ashley (Planning External Relations and Waste)

1. Purpose of report

1.1To provide the Panel with an update on Hertfordshire’s municipal waste management performance. This update is based on projected outcomes for 2008/09 substantially informed by data gained over the first three quarters of the year.

2. Summary

2.1Over the course of 2008/09 the County Council, as the Waste Disposal Authority for Hertfordshire, and the ten District and Borough Councils haveachieved another high-performingyear.

2.2A number of new waste minimisation and recycling initiatives have been launched and all the relevant performance indicators have shown improvement. Examples of these initiatives are the alternate weekly refuse collections that have been introduced in North Herts and St Albans, and Broxbourne Borough Council’s purple sack scheme.

2.3The effect of these initiatives has been to increase recycling levels at the same time asreducing the amounts of waste being presented for disposal. These measures have been designed to help meet the targets in the Hertfordshire Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy 2007 -more than 50% recycling and composting of household waste and less than 285kg of residual household waste per head of population by 2012. Progress against these targets is already well advanced at around 44% and 275kg respectively.

2.4The table attached as Appendix A gives a detailed breakdown of the County’s performance.

3. Recommendation

3.1That the Panel notes the report and comments upon any particular aspects of the County’s performance.

4. Overview of Performance

4.1The projected figures for 2008/09 show that, once again, more than half a million tonnes of municipal waste wasmanaged Hertfordshire. The detailed breakdown is as follows:

  • 555,867 tonnes of municipal waste, of which
  • 119,186 tonnes were recycled or re-used
  • 110,425 tonnes were composted
  • 36,805 tonnes were sent for energy recovery
  • 289,566 tonnes were sent to landfill
  • 522,041tonnes of this municipal waste were ‘household waste’by nature; the rest came from commercial and other non-household sources.
  • Hertfordshire has achieved a 43.9% household waste recycling and composting (and re-use) performance. This equates to 228,955tonnes being diverted from disposal. The average for Englandin 2007/08 was 34.5% with expectations that it will have risen to around 38% in 2008/09.
  • Hertfordshire’s total resident population in 2008/09is calculated to be 1,065,200, meaning that each resident produced on average 490kg of waste in the course of the year. Of this, 275kg was disposed of in landfill sites and at ‘energy from waste’(EfW) facilities.
  • The ten District and Borough Councils (as WCAs) collected 437,775tonnes of household waste through their kerbside collection services and ‘bring’ sites, as well as 31,190tonnes of waste from commercial outlets.
  • The County Council (as WDA) received 84,266 tonnes of household waste at its nineteen household waste recycling centres (HWRCs), of which 59% was sent for recycling or composting. In addition to this, the WDA received 2,239 of construction and demolition waste at the HWRCs, 66 tonnes of commercial waste at the Waterdale Transfer Station, and collected 10tonnes of asbestos from residents’ households.
  • The County Council sent 178,143tonnes of biodegradable municipal waste to landfill, using 73.3%of its LATS allowances for the year.
  • Residual waste was disposed of under contract at nine different sites. Seven of these were landfill sites and two were EfW facilities. Two of the landfill sites are located within Hertfordshire; the remaining facilities are situated outside of the county in Bedfordshire,Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex and North London.
  • The County Council’s total revenue expenditure on the performance of its statutory duties as a Waste Disposal Authority (not including the PFI procurement bid costs) is expected to turn out in the order of £32,400,000.

11.Financial Implications

11.1There are no direct financial implications relating to this report.

090414 03 WMP Performance Update1