Cost soars as rot sets in for recycling
Jan 5 2009 by Adrian Pearson, The Journal
THE North East has been hit by a triple whammy of environmental setbacks which threaten to force up recycling bills.
As Prime Minister Gordon Brown promises to create thousands of renewable-energy jobs to lessen the impact of a recession, council leaders in the region are being forced to look again at their green targets in light of the economic downturn.
Recycling chiefs are being forced to stockpile thousands of tonnes of waste paper collected from homes in County Durham after the price of recycled paper collapsed.
Paper which should be used again is being left for weeks and risks becoming unrecyclable as it begins to rot, making a mockery of the recycling efforts of thousands of North families.
Bosses at Greencycle, a London company which works with some County Durham councils, said they had been obliged to stockpile because a drop in demand from China has meant many waste companies have seen paper drop from £70 a tonne to £10 in the past two months.
The company is said to be looking at renegotiating council contracts so it can save up to £200,000 in the downturn.
And in Northumberland the county council is allowing waste company Sita to reduce its recycling targets.
Northumberland County Council and Sita UK are partners in a £40m, 28-year PFI contract which aims eventually to recycle almost half the county’s household waste.
But The Journal can reveal the council has allowed a 2% cut in the amount of collected waste it expects Sita to make reusable because of delays in securing a new site to serve Cramlington. The council said it was still confident of meeting its responsibilities. Last night the Green Party’s North East co-ordinator Martin Collins said for many councils recycling was “never really taken seriously”. Mr Collins, who is also the party’s North Tyneside mayoral candidate, said: “A lot of councils have a purely cosmetic approach to recycling and their green record is often nowhere near as good as it looks.
“They will be happy to look proactive by collecting waste from various recycling boxes, but very few of them care what happens next. It is not their problem any more and that is why we get unsurprising situations such as these.”
Northumberland has also paid an extra £82,500 in taxpayers’ money to Sita to compensate the company for unexpected problems since the PFI deal was signed in December 2006.
Northumberland County Council’s executive member for waste Coun Jim Smith last night said the council was confident it would meet waste targets set for 2009.
He said: “The important thing for us is that despite any setbacks, we continue to help residents recycle, we are looking at every aspect of recycling and will continue with plans to open new recycling centres. But there is no point in doing that if people cut down on the amount they recycle. Our priority in the year ahead will be to continue to get people to recycle and I don’t think there will be any major delays in the businesses side of things.”
No one was available for comment at Sita.
And on Tyneside environmental concerns could be about to cause a serious legal headache for the Government.
The European Union’s environmental commissioner Stavros Dimas has written to a Liberal Democrat hinting at legal action against the Government over air pollution breaches.
Clean-air campaigners believe that in 2005, some UK cities, including Newcastle, breached pollution laws which should have forced a reduction in harmful engine emissions known as PM10s. These pollution figures could be used as the basis for a legal battle which would drag the UK Government through the courts in the build-up to the London Olympics.
