Tonnage Statistics
MSW Arisings:
It can be seen that total LA Collected Waste has continued to fall from 1.48 million tonnes in 2004/05 to 1.14 million tonnes in 2010/11. In terms of the climate change agenda, this equates to a saving of 46,900 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent. This decrease has come about through improvement in education, enforcement, waste minimisation activities and reclassification of waste.
Graph One: Total MSW Arisings for Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority
The Greater Manchester MSW figures are falling at a rate in excess of this national figure. This is likely to be attributed to a number of factors:
- success of waste minimisation and education initiatives;
- the economic downturn;
- changes in collection policies being implemented;
- changes in packaging composition and
- introduction of managed weekly collections by some WCAs
Household Waste Recycling Centres – Performance
Performance improvements have also continued across the HWRC network. This can be seen in graph 2 below which shows the increase in recycling and composting that has been achieved from 2004/05. Combined recycling and composting rates have increased year on year from the 2004/05 baseline of 21.26% to 50.33% in 2010/11.
Graph 2: HWRC Performance
This increase has been achieved by significant investment in staffing and the development of new facilities, potentially for the proportion of dry recyclable materials being recovered. This is summarised in table 2 below. Such an increase relies on citizen co-operation, which we do through an increased level of meet and greet that is undertaken at the sites to ensure materials are placed in the appropriate area and not lost in the residual waste.
The decrease in overall arisings since 2009/10 is reflective of the overall decline in LACW that has been experienced and may be due to a number of factors including the economic downturn.
On a like for like basis the overall recycling level had increased to 37.01%. However, due to in year changes to green waste, which was previously considered to be composted by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). The official figure is some 3% lower. We have referred to this adjustment as “shred and spread” reflecting its use mainly on agricultural land.
HWRC Recycling and Composting Performance
| 2005/06 | 2006/07 | 2007/08 | 2008/09 | 2009/10 | 2010/11 | |
| HWRC Dry recyclables (tonnes) | 48,887 | 65,938 | 70,562 | 68,134 | 61,482 | 62,404 |
| HWRC Green (tonnes) | 23,130 | 25,301 | 24,544 | 23,052 | 20,626 | 7,628 |
| HWRC Green - Shred & Spread | 11,886 | |||||
| TOTAL ARISINGS | 290,230 | 297,335 | 275,040 | 245,162 | 215,076 | 212,693 |
Waste Collection Authorities - Performance
Household waste arisings have generally reduced in each WCA during this period. This reduction has typically been by a relatively small percentage. This may reflect the weather conditions, proactive management activities during the rollout of managed collections or could reflect the impact of waste minimisation and education initiatives. Overall, household waste arisings fell by an aggregate figure of 0.08% between 2009/10 and 2010/11.
The LA Collected Waste arisings show a significant drop of 1.42% between 2009/10 and 2010/11. This is likely to be attributed to a number of factors:
- success of waste minimisation and education initiatives;
- the economic downturn;
- changes in collection policies being implemented;
- changes in packaging composition;
- introduction of managed weekly collections by some WCAs; and
- Reductions in trade waste arisings.
On Local Authority Collected Waste arisings the biggest reduction of 6.94% was seen in Bury. This may be due to a general decrease in LA Collected Waste arisings from the decrease in economic activity through the period.
GRAPH 3: WCA Performance
LATS Allowance
Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme (LATS) Performance
LATS sets targets to reduce the amount of Biodegradable LA Collected Waste sent to landfill each year. The Authority%u201Fs landfill allowance allocation reduces every year, with an opportunity to bank surplus allocations (except in „target%u201F years - 2009/10; 2012/13 and 2019/20, where diversion targets must be met through actual diversion of Biodegradable Municipal Waste (BMW) or purchasing allowances). Penalties are in place for authorities that exceed their LATS allocation.
The LATS allocation for 2010/11 was 495,265 tonnes; against which the Authority achieved a surplus of 29,112 tonnes after selling allowances for 1,500 tonnes.
The LATS allowance for 2011/12, further reduces to 433,232 tonnes and on present performance, combined with planned improvements by WCAs to collection systems and development of new facilities, the target is confidently expected to be met.
Moving into 2012/13 the allowance reduces further to 371,200 tonnes. This will require facilities to be developed, in particular In-Vessel Composting (IVC) capacity. In order to meet this target it is essential that the new treatment capacity being developed in Greater Manchester under the Contract arrangements is constructed, commissioned and fully operational in order to avoid any shortfall in landfill diversion. Key to this will be the commencement of commissioning of the Runcorn Thermal Power Station (TPS) which is programmed for October 2012.
Environmental Performance Indicators
The start of the new GMWDA PFI contract coincided with a change in the performance indicators required to be reported to Government. The following National Indicators (NI’s) are calculated from data entered into WasteDataFlow:
