Recycling and composting - how far can we go? Presentations Brochure (PDF 2.76 MB)

Steve Read, Managing Director, SWPThe views expressed in this presentation are those of the presenter and not necessarily the SWPRecycling and Composting-how far can we go?RWM 17th September 2009Thank you for your interest in this presentation which is slightly adapted from the one I gave at the RWM Exhibition on 17thSeptember 2009.I have added some slides with words to explain the bits that I talked about. These are my personal thoughtsIf you borrow any pictures or ideas please could you credit themas appropriate.I would also like to acknowledge Andy Bond from May Gurney for some of the ideas here which I have plagiarised (with permission)I introduced the presentation by saying that whatever level of recycling you are currently doing, these are my top 10 potentialbarriers to doing better.Steve ReadSeptember 2009Top Ten barriers to Recycling(picture of national newspaper logo)• The negative press to recycling in general from sections of the national press in relation to “slop buckets, wheeled bins, stockpiles of material”• But let’s not give this too much credence. When the Daily Mail included coupon to return to the Council to demand that an alternative to a wheeled bin be made available, we received three for the whole county.• The benefit is it keeps us on our toes and helps us make sure we are communicating the positive messages effectively. Poor or compromised system designA brief look at the future …• When I was kid I hoped the future would look like this In Somerset the future looks like this…a vehicle that can collect the full range of recyclables and food waste in one pass. FoodPlastic Bottles & CardboardRefuseGardenStandard RecyclingService Package 3 Service Package 2 Service Package 5We tested and refined our extended kerbside service to find the best solution from a logistical, performance and customer perspective.WeeklyMixedFortnightRecycling Frequency51-58%48-55%44-52%Recycling Rate (WCA)69%SP387%SP575%Better or Much BetterSP2Service PackageAfter trials members chose the blue option (with the new vehicle) although it was slightly more expensive, it gave best all round value. Roll out starts in 2 districts this autumn. Opportunity cost of inefficiencyForming the SWP saved £1.7m per year. That’s money that can be reinvested in improved recycling • Somerset is a two tier County. In October 2007 the Councils set up a single Board and client organisation covering all waste collection and disposal functions. We let a single contract for collection for the whole county. • So far other 2 tier counties in England have not followed.• Cathie Powell (Now the Joint Waste Authority Project Officer at Defra) previously worked on a project in Hampshire and looked at attitudes and barriers to joint working. • One of the main conclusions was that you need very high level commitment from the Executive to make it happen. Members don’t want to subsidize poor performersIts just County trying to take overDon’t expect the report from this project to go anywhereSimplistic view, driven by Cxswho know nothing about it.ImpracticalLet’s get on with itNothing will change as a result of this projectJoint working=Job lossesJoint working vital for survival – need radical actionDifferent cultures – even the bins are different coloursDon’t have the capacity to deal with change on this scaleService differences are too great – and they won’t changeCommitment3 4 5 52 3 4 51 2 3 41 1 2 3Make it happenMake it happenHelp it happenLet it happenResistance(active)Help it happenLet it happen(passive)Resistance(active)STAFF COMMITMENT2 or below: forget3: needs work4 or above: successWith thanks to Cathie PowellNot enough help from producersPackaging Recovery Note (PRN) System• Costs >£60m to run pa• Puts about £60m into the system pa• Effective at meeting targets? • Existence apparently non-negotiable• Task force to address transparency but we need more connection between LA and producer targets…Food for thought…Somerset “Sort It” system Results24• When Somerset introduced the Sort It system in 3 districts, which included weekly food waste collections and fortnightly refuse we saw a drop in overall arisings from kerbside• There was some diversion to HWRCs but this was mainly short lived and much less than the overall system loss• We reckon about 25% of food waste has disappeared from the system. • We attribute much of this to behavioural change –particularly people seeing how much food they were throwing away CO2 benefits from various recycling systems26Comparison of CO2 savings from collection activities-10,000010,00020,00030,00040,00050,0001 - Cu r re nt 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 0 1 1 1 2 1 3 1 41 5 - Ma GO SService OptionCO2 Savings (Tonnes per annum)CO2 cost of transport emissionsCO2 savings w aste reductionCO2 savings garden w asteCO2 savings recycling and foodtReasons to be cheerful - part 1• Food chain has the the biggest carbon impact • More than transport• More than household consumption• 4.5 tonnes of CO2 per tonne avoided food wasteReasons to be cheerful - part 2• WRAP - £420 wasted food per household• 25% of all food waste avoided in Sort It• = £105 per household • Saving similar to the whole system cost –collection, food waste processing and landfill/disposalThe word “waste”• We still often speak of recyclable and compostablematerials as “waste”• This does not help us alter the perception of things we have finished using but someone else now has a use for. • We need to move away from the concept of waste at the end of a pipe to a whole process approach that makes the most efficient use of material already in the system Traditionally we have regarded waste as an “end of the pipe” problem.Extraction Disposal or DispersionFrom:To:A whole process approach, increasing the recycling of materials and reducing the need for more extraction and disposal facilities. R e so u rce- - - - - - - - ----------The cost of contaminationCourtesy of Townsend Hook • Half an hours worth of cans and plastic contamination at the Townsend Hook Mill in Kent. 15% of the blended feedstock comes from mixed paper form a co-mingled MRF• The very best co-mingled systems still have around 6% of contamination in the feedstock • System inefficiency is compounded when good quality recyclate is not properly sorted and ends up going to the wrong processor. WRAP have recently published this guidance (available on WRAP website) WRAP’s Conclusion“On the evidence available to WRAP, our view is thatkerbside sort systems offer reliable material quality and lower net costs for council taxpayers…...Because of our priority for quality materials as a way to improve resource efficiency, WRAP believes that kerbside sort collections should be preferred where they are practical and should be in the majority of local authority areas”.where does it all go?...people used to suspect we landfilled it all…• Carrier bags from Tesco contribute tpollution in the Shunde district of Guangdong, China. Italian, Dutch anBritish waste is recycled in the area• (Guardian)• Scare stories about where and how our recyclate ends up • Export not intrinsically a bad thing – it makes sense in terms of global economic patterns • But exporting poor quality and contaminated material is inexcusable• At SWP, we want to be transparent in this regard and audit where our material goes (92% to UK markets)• We publish an end use register (available at www.somersetwaste.gov.uk).Refuse expands to fit the space available…Sort It Results 147• I have already shown that the introduction of “capacity exchange” has helped reduce the overall arisings in the system • Where we have 180L wheeled bins as a default size, we have lower arisings than where we have 240L as default, both at the same frequency of collection.• Larger (or smaller) bins are available on request if that suits the household size. Sort It results 249Risk we end up with too many of these?• Waste stopped growing at 3% pa a long while back• LATS – 2013 mountain may be more of a foothill?• The PFI juggernaut – will it over deliver?• Curious symmetry between projected landfill and residual treatment costs• A competition for waste could result in a drift down rather than up the waste hierarchy.So, how far can we go?Household Waste050,000100,000150,000200,000250,000300,0002 00 0/ 0 12 00 1/ 0 22 00 2/ 0 32 00 3/ 0 42 00 4/ 0 52 00 5/ 0 62 00 6/ 0 72 00 7/ 0 8TonnesTotalHouseholdWasteTotalRecycling15%85% In seven years Somerset’s gone from this …50%50% …to this. >60% <40% We know we can do this…How far can we go?Is actually the wrong questionWe should ask HowLow can you get?• Best performing Areas in Somerset are doing 162kg per person per year• Through the new Sort It Plus system, Somerset can get to 130kg per person per year.• versus UK target 225Kg by 2020• Food waste effect and behavioural change can deliver very low waste to disposal• There is a clear correlation between kerbside sort with separate food waste and low residual wasteHow much waste is left to dispose?Thanks for the indulgencewww.somersetwaste.gov.uk