Need for landfill sites will 'virtually disappear'

8:50am Tuesday 5th March 2013 in News By Tim Ridgway, Local government reporter

Need for landfill sites will 'virtually disappear' Need for landfill sites will 'virtually disappear'

Landfill sites in Sussex will become a thing of the past after the drafting of a new blueprint.

After approving its new “green” proposal for dealing with waste and minerals across East Sussex and Brighton and Hove, town hall bosses believe the controversial method of dealing with rubbish will “virtually disappear” within three years.

Officials claim its one existing landfill site, at Pebsham, near Hastings, is not expected to be replaced once full.

With West Sussex County Council only having one active site to bury waste, this means only a small percentage of waste will be disposed of by burial in the county.

However, the East Sussex plan admitted the current trend of more than 50% of waste requiring landfill will continue to be exported in the near future.

Keith Glazier, deputy leader of East Sussex County Council, said: “Adoption of the plan is the culmination of several years’ work which has included extensive consultation with people and businesses.

“Importantly, the plan does not include any new landfill sites and will encourage much greater recovery of material and energy from waste from businesses in the near future.”

The blueprint, which talks about how to deal with about 1.75 million tonnes of solid waste every year, has now been adopted by East Sussex County Council, Brighton and Hove City Council and the South Downs National Park Authority.

Officials claim the plan, which outlines how authorities tackle waste through the planning process, has some of the most ambitious targets in the country for waste recovery.

By 2015/15, it wants recycling rates to be 45% with overall recovery rates 98%.

This means that taxpayers do not have to foot a bill of up to £80 for every tonne sent to the landfill.

Phélim MacCafferty, deputy leader for Brighton and Hove City Council, said: “In Brighton and Hove we are focused on reducing as much waste as possible and providing as much support as we can to encourage everyone to play their part in saving resources.”

Andrew Shaxson, chairman of the South Downs National Parks Authority's planning committee, said: “This plan will help to guide major waste and mineral developments away from protected landscapes.”

Comments(14)

qm says...
9:08am Tue 5 Mar 13

By 2015/15, it wants recycling rates to be 45% with overall recovery rates 98%.
Can some knowledgable person please explain the numbers quoted above?
i.e. the difference between the recycling rate and the overall recovery rate.
In anticipation - Thanks

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s_james says...
9:18am Tue 5 Mar 13

Recycling = recycling and composting. Overall recovery = recycling, composting and energy recovery (e.g what goes on at Newhaven)

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Tailgaters Anonymous says...
9:21am Tue 5 Mar 13

I work with many figures in the day job but I cannot fathom the basis for this piece.
Is waste to be exported from Sussex, EfW to be implemented or what?
Is there an unduly optimistic expectation for recycling?
ESCC rowed back from its 6 crackpot land-raise proposals, including the flood area in Piltdown to the east of the Ouse, so what bright ideas are now in prospect?

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Phani Tikkala says...
9:44am Tue 5 Mar 13

Considering that in 2007 they predicted landfills in Sussex would be full within 3 years, and that in 2008 Sussex was sending more to landfill than 10 years previously, the idea that we won't need landfill in 3 years seems wildly optimistic to put it mildly

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Crystal Ball says...
9:56am Tue 5 Mar 13

The future of rubbish (and this planet) is Wall-E or the premise behind "Soldier".

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MuammarQaddafi says...
10:05am Tue 5 Mar 13

Yes, and another forthcoming plan will eliminate the need for private motor vehicles the year after that, freeing taxpayers from the need to stump up for roads maintenance, and they all lived happily ever after. The End.

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qm says...
10:28am Tue 5 Mar 13

s_james wrote:
Recycling = recycling and composting. Overall recovery = recycling, composting and energy recovery (e.g what goes on at Newhaven)
Thank you for that - shall have to find out more about "energy recovery" which of course will only have value if it utilised in some way.
Seem to recall some years ago of a town council that spent an awful lot of money on it's recycling projects only for it to all end up in landfill anyway because there was no economically viable outlet for the recovered materials, the scandal being the self-congratulations and backslapping among the participants etc. until the truth was revealed!
The meaning of the term "recycle" sometimes gets lost perhaps in the enthusiasm for "tickn' da box"!
Thanks again!

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Charismatic Andrew says...
10:30am Tue 5 Mar 13

If Phélim MacCafferty wants to "provide as much support as he can to encourage everyone to play their part in saving resources" he needs to replace those ridiculous black recycling tubs (which blow everywhere and have lids that don't fit) with recycling wheelie bins like all our sensible neighbouring local authorities have. Until then everything goes in my nice big green wheelie bin.

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Fight_Back says...
10:58am Tue 5 Mar 13

I can't believe I'm finding myself actually typing this but finally a good green ( with a little g ) policy being implemented by a Green council. A 98% recovery rate will be a great achievement and should be entirely possible.

Agree with the recycling wheelie bins as well. We could also do with green waste being collected and recycling being every week ( along with rubbish being moved to every other week ).

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Morpheus says...
11:35am Tue 5 Mar 13

Solve a problem by exporting it. Great policy.

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Stripes says...
2:35pm Tue 5 Mar 13

This would explain the new railway sidings being installed by National Rail alongside the Newhaven incinerator then.

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qm says...
3:04pm Tue 5 Mar 13

A further question comes to mind. It states above that it costs £80 per tonne if deposited in a landfill site. What is the total cost per exported tonne? Surely that can't be cheaper?

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s_james says...
8:56pm Tue 5 Mar 13

Stripes wrote:
This would explain the new railway sidings being installed by National Rail alongside the Newhaven incinerator then.
Not true. These are for trains to take away the ash from the incinerator for recycling.

Qm - the £80 per tonne tax is payable even if the waste is exported to landfills outside the area. Exported in this context just means outside East Sussex and Brighton & Hove. However, the council only pays the tax for household waste, and already virtually none of this goes to landfill because of faciliites at Newhaven, Hollingdean etc. The vast majority of waste still landfilled is commercial waste, and the landfill tax is paid by the company disposing of it, not the taxpayer

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qm says...
1:31pm Wed 6 Mar 13

s_james wrote:
Stripes wrote:
This would explain the new railway sidings being installed by National Rail alongside the Newhaven incinerator then.
Not true. These are for trains to take away the ash from the incinerator for recycling.

Qm - the £80 per tonne tax is payable even if the waste is exported to landfills outside the area. Exported in this context just means outside East Sussex and Brighton & Hove. However, the council only pays the tax for household waste, and already virtually none of this goes to landfill because of faciliites at Newhaven, Hollingdean etc. The vast majority of waste still landfilled is commercial waste, and the landfill tax is paid by the company disposing of it, not the taxpayer
Thank you s_james, wish news articles were a bit more informative on complex issues instead of being so brief and glib! TVM!

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