-
Why do we need to reduce waste and
recycle more materials?
-
Some people claim that it is possible
to achieve recycling and composting rates higher than 65 per cent.
Shouldn’t Peterborough be aiming higher?
-
What about places that claim to
have a zero waste policy?
-
Does the existing materials
recycling facility (MRF) have the capacity to handle 65 per cent
plus recycling levels?
-
What can be done with food waste
that currently goes in the black bin?
-
When will the proposed new facilities
be completed?
-
Why is the council building an
energy-from-waste facility when PREL (Peterborough Renewable Energy
Limited) is proposing the same thing?
-
Where can I go for more information
on the planning applications?
-
What if I disagree with the
proposals?
-
What impact will the Integrated
Resource Park have on the environment?
-
What is the likely impact of the
Integrated Resource Park on climate change?
-
What impact will the Integrated
Resource Park have on people?
-
Will the energy generated by the
new facilities pay back the economic investment?
-
How does the city council’s plan
for an Integrated Resource Park support Environment Capital
status?
-
Can the city council reassure
people that the site will be operated safely?
-
How can we be sure that the new
facilities will meet Peterborough’s needs for the next 30
years?
-
How much energy will the
Integrated Resource Park need to operate and where will this come
from?
-
What plans are there in place to
deal with waste from London – is the Integrated Resource Park being
built to meet this obligation?
-
What assurance do we have that
Peterborough will not become the ‘dustbin’ for other
counties?
1. Why do we need to reduce waste
and recycle more materials?
Although Peterborough has a very good recycling record, we still
send around half of our waste to landfill. Burying our rubbish in a
hole in the ground is not sustainable for a number of
environmental, financial and practical reasons.
When biodegradable rubbish is buried in landfill sites it
produces methane – a powerful global warming gas that is 21 times
more potent than carbon dioxide – as it decomposes. To reduce this
environmental damage, the EU Landfill Directive and UK legislation
set strict targets to stop putting waste into landfill sites. For
Peterborough, this means reducing the amount of biodegradable waste
we landfill to just 15,909 tonnes (35% of 1995 levels) by
2019/20.
The cost of landfilling waste is rising all the time, so it
makes financial sense to reduce the amount of waste we generate and
divert as many materials as possible from landfill. In addition,
failure to meet EU targets will incur a penalty of £150 for every
tonne of ‘over-target’ waste that is landfilled. We estimate that
it could cost Peterborough £43 million in EU fines alone by 2019/20
if we did nothing.
From a practical point of view, reducing waste and recycling
more generally means less energy is used in producing new products
and valuable raw materials are saved. Closer to home, we need to
take into account that the Dogsthorpe landfill site used by
Peterborough City Council is scheduled to be full and closed by
2013.
Return To Top
2. Some people claim that it is
possible to achieve recycling and composting rates higher than 65
per cent. Shouldn’t Peterborough be aiming higher?
Peterborough’s target to recycle more than 65 per cent of
domestic waste is already among the highest in the world and we
would hope to achieve even higher levels of recycling in
future. This supports our aspiration to be recognised as the
UK’s Environmental Capital. There are substantial variations
in the way other municipal authorities around the world record
their recycling performance. Some very high recycling rates
include commercial and industrial wastes, which are often far
easier to recycle than ‘black bin’ waste from households.
Return To Top
3. What about places that claim
to have a zero waste policy?
Zero Waste is a new concept that entails re-designing products
and changing the way waste is handled, so products last longer,
materials are recycled, or, in the case of organics, composted.
However, this is a long-term goal.
Peterborough has been selected as one of six trial sites under
the UK Government’s 'Zero Waste Places'. The initiative was a
commitment within the Government’s Waste Strategy 2007, and the six
selected 'Places' will be expected to demonstrate best practice in
waste management across England.
Under this scheme, Peterborough Environment City Trust will run
a Zero Waste City Centre initiative, which will focus on Cathedral
Square and the three streets leading from it (Bridge Street,
Cowgate and Long Causeway). The initiative will also include
the Queensgate Shopping Centre, encompassing more than 200 retail
and commercial premises as well as the Town Hall and council
offices.
Peterborough’s long term vision is that all waste is used as a
resource, ensuring the sustainability and protection of our
environment with zero landfill.
Return To Top
4. Does the existing materials
recycling facility (MRF) have the capacity to handle 65 per cent
plus recycling levels?
As Peterborough City Council works towards the goal of recycling
more than 65 per cent of household materials, more space will be
required to handle recycling operations. Although the current
MRF was upgraded in March 2008 so that we could recycle glass as
well as paper, plastics and metals, the existing facility has
limited space for further development and for storage of processed
material. A larger facility is planned at the former Ray
Smith Group factory in Fengate to allow the MRF to develop in
response to Peterborough’s increasing population. In April 2009,
the city council obtained planning permission to build the new
materials recycling facility. The procurement of the new
facility commenced in April 2009.
The council also recycles materials through local ‘bring banks’
and the Householders’ Recycling Centre (HRC) at Dogsthorpe, both of
which are set for improvements. A second HRC to serve the south of
the city is also in the pipeline.
Return To Top
5. What can be done with food
waste that currently goes in the black bin?
The city council’s waste management policy – approved on 28
February 2007 – includes a commitment to introduce measures to
recycle kitchen food waste, which represents an estimated 21 per
cent of recoverable material (around 40 per cent of a typical black
wheelie bin’s contents). There are currently two main methods
of treating kitchen waste: in-vessel composting (IVC), which
means using an enclosed heat-treatment system to turn kitchen waste
into compost; and anaerobic digestion (AD), which is a process that
allows special microbes to feed on the waste and, in the process,
produce biogas that can be burned to generate electricity. In April
2009, councillors decided that anaerobic digestion is the best way
to treat food waste in Peterborough from an environmental and
financial perspective. The procurement of the new facility
commenced in May 2009.
Investigations into the best methods for collecting food waste
are progressing and we expect collection across the city to begin
during 2010.
Return To Top
6. When will the proposed new
facilities be completed?
The new facilities include a larger materials recycling facility
(MRF) to improve the city’s ability to recycle more materials; an
energy-from-waste (EfW) facility to take the non-recycled waste,
which will be used as a fuel to generate renewable energy; and a
household food waste treatment plant that will produce compost and
generate additional renewable energy.
Some of these facilities are simpler to design and build than
others. If all goes well, the new MRF should be ready by early
2012, while the EfW facility is scheduled for completion by
2014. The food processing facility will come on-line towards
the end of 2010.
Return To Top
7. Why is the council building
an energy-from-waste facility when PREL (Peterborough Renewable
Energy Limited) is proposing the same thing?
The city council needs to have an assured alternative to
landfill disposal of municipal waste when the Dogsthorpe landfill
site closes. It has taken the appropriate steps to ensure this
alternative will be in place by commissioning the EfW facility on
Fengate as part of its integrated waste management strategy.
Return To Top
8. Where can I go for more
information on the planning applications?
The planning applications for the new materials recycling
facility and the energy-from- waste facility have been received by
the city council’s planning department. They can be viewed online
using the links from the 65% Plus website (www.65percentplus.co.uk/Downloads).
Paper copies can also be viewed at Peterborough City Council's
customer service centre at Bayard Place, Broadway,
Peterborough.
Return To Top
9. What if I disagree with the
proposals?
Formal comments on the planning applications must be lodged with
the city council’s planning department. They can be contacted by
email on planningcontrol@peterborough.gov.uk
or by post at Development Control Operations Directorate, Stuart
House East Wing, St John's Street, Peterborough, PE1 5DD.
The city council will take into account the comments for or
against the proposals when determining whether or not to grant
planning permission. The decision on the EfW facilities should be
known by summer 2009.
The planning application for the new materials recycling
facility was approved in April 2009.
Return To Top
10. What impact will the Integrated
Resource Park have on the environment?
There is unlikely to be any significant impact on the
surrounding area. In fact all the facilities have been designed to
minimise their impact or bring some positive benefits. For example
the new materials recycling facility (MRF) is being constructed
within an existing building, so there will be no construction
impacts. It will be able to accept, process and store recyclable
materials inside the building, so control of litter and traffic
noise will be greatly improved. With regard to the new
energy-from-waste (EfW) facility, an Environmental Impact
Assessment, or Environmental Statement, forms part of the planning
submission. This document has examined a wide range of issues,
including: traffic effects, visual impact, emissions to air, land
and water, climate, material assets, cultural heritage, humans,
flora and fauna, geography and the landscape, and interactions of
these areas. It also covers the techniques used to minimise these
impacts and more. The document can be found in the download area of
this website.
Return To Top
11. What is the likely impact
of the Integrated Resource Park on climate change?
As an alternative to landfill disposal of waste, the Integrated
Resource Park will positively reduce our contribution to climate
change. It will prevent the emission of methane gas from landfill
sites. Methane is 21 times more potent than carbon dioxide as a
climate changing gas. It will prevent the emissions caused by
transporting waste to landfills outside the city when the site in
Peterborough is full in a few years. It will displace energy
generated by conventional means (coal, oil and gas), by generating
electricity and hot water in the proposed combined heat and power
(CHP) processes.
All electricity exported from the Integrated Resource Park will
displace energy currently generated from fossil fuel sources,
thereby reducing the carbon dioxide emissions from power stations.
Also those companies taking heat from the Park will cut gas, oil
and coal usage for their heating needs, further reducing the
emissions entering the atmosphere from businesses in
Peterborough.
This has been confirmed using the Environment Agency’s ‘Waste
Resources Assessment Tool for the Environment’ (WRATE) life cycle
analysis. The findings are available in the download area of this
website.
Return To Top
12. What impact will the
Integrated Resource Park have on people?
Strict emissions controls at the site will ensure that the
process facilities at the Park have a minimal impact on air quality
so there is no significant risk to people in the area. Controls
will also be imposed on noise, dust and traffic movements during
construction phases to ensure that the Park has minimal impact on
its neighbours.
Return To Top
13. Will the energy
generated by the new facilities pay back the economic
investment?
The total investment for the Integrated Resource Park is around
£70 million. We have calculated that to do nothing about our waste
management needs would cost Peterborough £43 million in EU fines in
the period up to 2020 alone. In addition to the energy that will be
generated, the business case for the Integrated Resource Park
includes savings from avoided landfill charges and taxes, along
with income from materials recycled and recovered through all of
the facilities proposed.
Return To Top
14. How does the city
council’s plan for an Integrated Resource Park support Environment
Capital status?
The proposed Integrated Resource Park demonstrates that
Peterborough is responsible about waste and therefore supports the
city’s growing reputation as the UK’s Environment Capital. At one
end of the process this means reducing the amount of waste we
generate. At the other, it means deriving a final benefit from the
waste that cannot be reused or recycled. The new Materials
Recycling Facility and improved electrical equipment reuse
programme will enable Peterborough to recycle and reuse as much as
possible. The facilities for treating food waste and residual waste
will enable us to generate energy and provide a much better
environmental alternative than landfill.
Return To Top
15. Can the city council
reassure people that the site will be operated safely?
The energy-from-waste (EfW) process has been developed over many
years to include very high standards of operation and emissions
control. It is also strictly and independently regulated by the
Environment Agency (EA) to prevent any harm to health or the
environment. The EA is responsible for issuing an environmental
permit and carrying out a continued assessment of plant operations
to ensure emissions are kept within safe limits. The EA undertakes
regular inspections and independent monitoring and the operator
must monitor emissions continuously and report the results to the
EA. These results are placed on a public register. Any breach by
the operator can result in enforcement action, prosecution or
closure of the facility.
Return To Top
16. How can we be sure that
the new facilities will meet Peterborough’s needs for the next 30
years?
Since alternate weekly collections were introduced
Peterborough’s recycling rate has risen to 48% in 2008/09. This
means a real reduction in the volumes of residual household waste
requiring treatment. Volumes have fallen from about 67,000 tonnes
in 2004 to less than 50,000 in 2008/09 – a decrease of more than
one quarter, despite Peterborough's growing population. We aim to
continue both these trends and recycle over 65% of all our
municipal waste.
The council’s waste models take into account that the population
of the city is growing dramatically. The new facilities are
designed to deal with the increase in overall waste that this will
inevitably produce, while also taking into account improving
recycling rates.
Return To Top
17. How much energy will
the Integrated Resource Park need to operate and where will this
come from?
The Integrated Resource Park is designed to be self-sufficient.
The food waste and residual waste coming on to the site will be
used in two different treatment facilities as fuel to generate
electricity and heat. A very modest amount of the electricity will
be used to power the facilities themselves. The energy-from-waste
(EfW) facility alone is capable of generating sufficient renewable
energy each year to power around 4,000 homes.
Return To Top
18. What plans are there
in place to deal with waste from London - is the Integrated
Resource Park being built to meet this obligation?
At the moment, although some household waste from London is
currently being landfilled in the Cambridgeshire area, we are not
aware of any going to sites in Peterborough. The city council does
not have direct control of the disposal routes for London waste;
nor does London waste enter any calculations regarding quotas or
fines for Peterborough. The Integrated Resource Park has therefore
been designed specifically to deal with waste arising within the
city council’s area and for which Peterborough is
responsible.
Return To Top
19. What assurance do we
have that Peterborough will not become the ‘dustbin’ for other
counties?
Other councils in this area are trying, like us, to meet their
own disposal needs. For instance, Lincolnshire and Norfolk are both
looking to develop energy-from-waste (EfW) plants of their own.
There are currently no plans or contracts in place for enabling
other councils to treat their waste at Peterborough’s EfW facility.
While there may be limited spare capacity in the early years
because the facility has been designed to cope with the city’s
future growth, the facilities are being designed to cope primarily
with Peterborough’s needs.
Return To Top
17. How much energy will
the Integrated Resource Park need to operate and where will this
come from?
The Integrated Resource Park is designed to be self-sufficient.
The food waste and residual waste coming on to the site will be
used in two different treatment facilities as fuel to generate
electricity and heat. A very modest amount of the electricity will
be used to power the facilities themselves. The energy-from-waste
(EfW) facility alone is capable of generating sufficient renewable
energy each year to power around 4,000 homes.
Return To Top
18. What plans are there
in place to deal with waste from London - is the Integrated
Resource Park being built to meet this obligation?
At the moment, although some household waste from London is
currently being landfilled in the Cambridgeshire area, we are not
aware of any going to sites in Peterborough. The city council does
not have direct control of the disposal routes for London waste;
nor does London waste enter any calculations regarding quotas or
fines for Peterborough. The Integrated Resource Park has therefore
been designed specifically to deal with waste arising within the
city council’s area and for which Peterborough is
responsible.
Return To Top
19. What assurance do we
have that Peterborough will not become the ‘dustbin’ for other
counties?
Other councils in this area are trying, like us, to meet their
own disposal needs. For instance, Lincolnshire and Norfolk are both
looking to develop energy-from-waste (EfW) plants of their own.
There are currently no plans or contracts in place for enabling
other councils to treat their waste at Peterborough’s EfW facility.
While there may be limited spare capacity in the early years
because the facility has been designed to cope with the city’s
future growth, the facilities are being designed to cope primarily
with Peterborough’s needs.
Return To Top