EU Green Capital Competition 2015

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1 EU Green Capital Competition 2015 Section 7 Waste Production & Management chapter 7A. The present situation in relation to waste production and management Bristol leads in the UK on waste reduction and management. In the last 12 months it has significantly improved its performance with new collection and energy recovery contracts in place. Bristol has a clear strategy and targets, is achieving significant reductions in waste to landfill and has targeted recycling and energy recovery from residual waste. It has avoided the loss of recyclable materials associated with large scale mass burn incineration. A.1 Bristol City Council s Waste Strategies and Action Plans Bristol City Council (BCC) has planned waste management improvements since it was one of the first UK councils to introduce weekly recycling collections in The plans are set out in Table 1. Document name Content Status Core Strategy 2011 Strategic planning policies to guide development in Bristol from , primarily land use but also ensuring local, sustainable management of waste Adopted in June 2011, replaces parts of Bristol Local Plan 1997 West of England Joint Waste Strategy To develop and procure sustainable medium and long term residual household waste disposal options for 4 local authorities, including Bristol Adopted in Current. Headline Waste Strategy To reduce as much of BCC s municipal waste as possible by utilizing the waste hierarchy, as well as to comply with local, regional, national and international policy, legislation and targets Replaces 2000 Household Waste Strategy. Adopted in Current. Table 1: Bristol s action plans 1

2 BCC s 2000 Household Waste Strategy and subsequent strategies planned to: Raise awareness of waste issues and promote waste reduction and recycling Develop recycling services - kerbside and bring sites Promote home composting and develop centralised composting facilities Improve waste recycling centres for citizens to take their waste to Manage residual waste to reduce waste to landfill. Since 2001 BCC has run promotional campaigns through print, web and social marketing channels including working with communities new to the city to enable them to take advantage of the waste services, such as students or black and minority ethnic communities. Figure 1 summarises the progress made as a result of BCC policies and services. More detailed information is given later. 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Recycled/ Composted/ Reused Energy Recovery Landfilled Figure 1: Percentage of Household Waste by Treatment Method Social enterprises have played a key role in helping to engage residents, reduce the amount of waste disposed of and increasing the amount of waste diverted from landfill. Key local organisations include: Bicycle recycling projects, e.g. Bike Back IT reuse and recycling, e.g. Bristol Computer Recycling, Byteback 1 Computer Recycling and Computers For Life Furniture reuse, e.g. Emmaus Bristol, Kingswood Furniture Project, Restore, SOFA Project, Space Trust Second hand clothes and bric-a-brac raising money for charitable organisation, e.g. Sue Ryder, St. Peter s Hospice and many others. Websites promoting re-use e.g. Bristol Freecycle and EcoJam 1 Local social enterprises recycling IT equipment for social, environmental and local economic gain 2

3 Children s Scrapstore: Takes commercial waste scraps to be reused by children, schools, etc. in art and other projects. WEEE reuse and recycling, e.g. SOFA Project. Historical and Geographical Factors The majority of UK waste legislation stems from EU directives. The key difference between the way waste is managed in the UK and in Europe is that in the UK, local authorities only have a statutory duty to collect household waste and not commercial waste, as other European countries do. Therefore the statistics do not refer to the commercial waste. Historically, the UK as a whole has had a much higher reliance on landfill than elsewhere in Western Europe and a limited deployment of energy from waste. As a result of the UK s Landfill Tax regime, higher rates of recycling have been achieved rather than had the energy recovery model been followed. A.2. Amount of waste per capita 2011/12 Household: Municipal: 351 kg 380 kg Bristol has the lowest waste per capital of any major English city and substantially (23%) lower than the UK average. The most recent national data is for 2010/11 when Bristol s Household waste per capita was 378kg compared to the national average of 449kg. A.3&4 Proportion of total and biodegradable waste sent to a landfill Bristol has successfully reduced the amount of waste sent to landfill both total and biodegradable. During the current financial year only 27% of waste has been disposed of to landfill. During the last full financial year when new energy from waste services were introduced 41% of total waste was landfilled and 17.5% of biodegradable waste see Table / /13 to Sept Total produced (t) Landfilled (t) Landfilled (%) Landfilled (%) Total Household Waste 154,699 63,670 41% 27% Biodegradable Waste 105,195 18, % - Table 2: Waste produced and landfilled The biodegradable fraction (68%) of total waste is taken from the Environment Agency (England and Wales) and is used for Landfill Allowance calculations under the Landfill Directive. The composition of Bristol waste going to landfill is derived from a compositional analysis undertaken in March 2012 and contains some estimates and may also be affected by seasonal variations for items such as garden waste. 3

4 A.5. Percentage of recycled municipal waste. In October 2011 Bristol introduced new waste collection and waste treatment services and facilities. The latest recycling rate is 50%. During the last full financial year 2011/12, 46.8% of Municipal waste was recycled, reused or composted. A.6 Types of waste collected separately and extent of roll-out (% coverage) of source separated collection systems; BCC collects 25 waste streams separately for recycling or composting as well as residual waste for treatment and energy recovery. Of these 15 are collected from homes whilst 10 more are collected from the city s two Recycling Centres and residents can deposit waste there free of charge. These are listed in Table 3 Collected from Homes Recyclable waste Biodegradable Waste Paper Food waste Glass Garden waste Textiles Shoes Batteries Spectacles Plastics Waxed Beverage Cartons Cans. Foil and aluminium containers. Aerosols. Cardboard Engine oil Table 3 How different waste streams are collected Collected from City Recycling Centres Recycling Centre All wastes collected at Homes plus: Books, DVDs and CDs Domestic refrigerators and freezers Hard plastic (old toys, household items, drainpipes etc..) Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Furniture Rubble and soil Scrap metal Shredded paper Wood waste Currently 100% of Bristol residents have access to source separated recycling collection services. All houses are served by kerbside collections offering the full range of recycling whilst those living in apartments are served by Mini Recycling Centres which include separate bins for glass, paper, cans, food, cardboard and increasingly plastics. 4

5 A.7 Treatment of separately collected waste Recyclable waste is bulked up at a local depot before being sent to various re-processors for recycling. See Map. Figure 2 Map. BCC requires the waste collection contractors to report the destination of all waste collected in Bristol and provides this information to citizens to give them confidence that waste collected for recycling is recycled. All waste collected for recycling is processed in the UK. The food waste is composted via an in-vessel composting facility. Figure 2: Citizen communication material about destinations of recyclate 5

6 7B. Describe the measures implemented over the last five to ten years for improving waste management. Bristol City Council and its partners have successfully implemented the plans set out in Table 1. Bristol has focused its efforts towards the top of the waste management hierarchy and since 2004/5 has successfully: Reduced the amount of waste produced in the city by citizens by 27% Increased recycling and composting from 13% to nearly 50% Increased energy recovery from 0% to c.25%. Reduced landfill by 74% It has achieved this success through a sustained programme of investment in new services and infrastructure and public communication, including: Collections available to every household, school and university hall of residence: o weekly recycling service for 14 materials o weekly food waste collections o weekly optional chargeable garden waste collection o fortnightly collections of residual waste o on-demand chargeable bulky waste collection service o reducing the volume of the residual waste collection service by 75% - by reducing the frequency of collection and the bin size. Network of recycling sites including: o mixed plastic 47 sites o waxed beverage cartons 6 sites o on-street recycling bins 10 sites Two Household Waste Recycling Centres allowing free recycling/ disposal of a wide range of household wastes including WEEE, stone, wood and asbestos. The sites have more than doubled their recycling rates since 2002/03 to 76% in 2011/12. 6

7 B.1 Reduction of the amount of waste produced BCC s successful initiatives have reduced the amount of household waste generated per person, by 27.1% since 2005/06, and municipal waste by 21.4% - see Figure 3. Despite Bristol s population growing by 8% since 2005, the rapid reduction in waste per person has reduced overall household waste by 18% since 2005/06. Figure 3: Kgs household waste/ person/ year. B.2 Waste management infrastructure BCC is committed to managing its waste locally, rather than transporting it for another community to deal with, and has invested with partners in new infrastructure to achieve this, as shown in Table 4. Infrastructure Description Waste Recycling Collection Two collection centres allowing residents to recycle and Centres. dispose of a wider range of waste, including heavy and bulky waste. In Vessel Composting Commissioned in 2010 and treating food waste collected Facility from households. Mechanical Biological Commissioned in 2011 and treating waste for the City Treatment Plant Region Waste Partnership. Advanced Thermal Under Construction. The plant will use pyrolysis and Conversion Plant. gasification to generate 13MW of energy. Table 4: Recycling infrastructure 7

8 B.3 Management of Residual Waste BCC has successfully reduced the amount of waste to landfill by 74% in 8 years see Table 5. Reductions in per capita performance have been even higher. Year Total waste to Landfill % reduction from 2004/5 Waste per capita to Landfill % reduction from 2004/5 2004/05 162kt - 414kg /12 64kt 60% 144kg 65% 2012/13 Projected 41kt 74% 93kg 77% Table 5: Total waste to Landfill Bristol City Council s waste strategy has successfully targeted biodegradable waste for diversion from landfill, increasing waste collected for composting from 1% to over 19%. An estimated 110kt of biodegradable waste (80%+) was landfilled in 2004/5, and this has been reduced to 18kt (84% reduction). Bristol has achieved all of its biodegradable waste to landfill targets. The combined household waste composting and recycling rate has increased from 12.7% in 2004/ 5 then 43.8% in 2011/12 and has now reached 50% year to date. Most of the city s residual waste is now treated in a Mechanical Biological Treatment (MBT) plant, which opened in April 2011 (see future plans in Section C). B.4 Awareness raising programmes A sustained communication programme from BCC, its partners and it community groups, has successfully raised awareness of waste and recycling issues. The waste management services and communication activities have been developed in harmony and in there main phases: Raising awareness of waste as an issue and explaining recycling services. By % of households participated in recycling Encouraging wider use of recycling services and introducing the new food waste collection service. By % of households recycled and 60-65% of households were using the new food waste service Encouraging waste reduction, improving use of the food waste service, providing new services and reaching out to communities that were not using the services. Examples of communications activities since 2006 are: Child Education Programme working with school pupils on sustainable waste management and ensuring that schools have access to all BCC services, such as food waste and free compost bins. BCC provides recycling and food waste collections to all Bristol s 163 schools. Love Food Hate Waste In 2009, BCC ran a campaign to reduce food waste and promote food waste recycling. This included leaflets, a food diary competition and roadshows. It increased use of the food waste collection service. 8

9 Extending the recycling service to apartments. BCC provides over 900 mini-recycling centres for apartment blocks, serving 35,000 households. Recycling rates were initially low and so BCC commissioned a targeted communication programme which involved visiting every household. Over three years, this increased the amount of recyclate per household by 77%. Helping communities to recycle. BCC has targeted communities new to the city, such as students or black and minority ethnic communities. BCC s innovative approach was rewarded with additional Government finance to run national pilots of communications for target groups. This included linking recycling to Islamic teaching and practices. 9

10 7C. Short and long term objectives for the future and proposed approach to achieve these with details of allocated budgets. Bristol City Council s future plans are set out in its Headline Waste Strategy This aims to reduce as much of BCC s municipal waste as possible by utilising the waste hierarchy, as well as to exceed local, national and international targets and legislative requirements, in spite of the current economic constraints faced by the Council, as a result of public sector budget cuts. In 2011 BCC set targets to: Eliminate waste to landfill by 2013 Reduce residual waste by 15% per household Increase recycling to 50% by 2017/18 Figure 4: Waste performance and targets The strategy is being successfully implemented, Bristol is on track to achieve its targets and key delivery mechanisms are now in place, including: A new waste collection service with targets agreed with the new waste contractor. This includes penalties for the contractor if they do not meet them and benefits sharing with the Council if they over perform. Comprehensive education and communication programmes for schools and other target groups. A partnership between the City Council and waste collection contractor, the Council leads on education with a schools education officer, and the contractor on day to day communications. This ensures clear accountability but also integration with the contract performance and incentives. 10

11 Customer service targets for the contractor to increase customer satisfaction and therefore participation. Continued weekly chargeable garden waste collection service and a charged bulky waste item collection service. Charging for residual waste collections is not currently possible under UK legislation. Continued segregated kerbside recycling of a wide range of materials, securing high quality recyclate. Further improvements to the Household Waste Recycling Centres to improve customer satisfaction and recycling rates, including the development of a 3 rd centre in South Bristol. Continual Improvement BCC already has plans for the sustainable management of waste in place to meet current and future targets. However, the Council hopes to move beyond these targets via the actions above, but to also continually review and improve its services further. Plastic Film - Currently the technology and markets for plastic film (such as carrier bags) is limited. Technology and the market for this material is improving and BCC will review these markets and technology and, if sustainable, develop plastic film recycling schemes as a result. Disposable nappies - Recently a plant has opened in the West Midlands to recycle, compost and recover this type of waste (including other sanitary waste). As this is a UK first the plant is already at capacity. However, as additional plants and other more sustainable disposal options become available, BCC will review these. It will thus achieve a more complete recovery process by using a specialised process rather than the more general MBT. In addition, a better service for the customer is delivered due to weekly as opposed to fortnightly collections. Bristol City Council will also continue to lobby and participate in discussions and consultations with Government Departments and Agencies on all aspects of waste management, so that our expertise, experience and opinions can be fed in to help develop national and international waste policy. As a leader in waste management in the UK, BCC will continue to share its experiences and expertise with other local authorities and Government agencies, in the UK and Europe. 11

12 Mechanical Biological Treatment Plant By 2013, 100% of residual waste will be treated in this way. The product from the MBT is currently sent to Holland as fuel for a district heating plant. A new energy recovery facility is being built which will allow all residual waste to be used in the city boundary. Figure 5 New energy recovery plant under construction (2012). Innovation Bristol City Council is driving innovation to reduce the impact that waste collection has on the environment. Bristol has assessed the carbon footprint of waste collection activities which account for approximately 5% of its operational emissions. To reduce this BCC has required the new waste collection contractor to achieve targets to reduce the carbon footprint of waste collection by 10% in year one and 32% by 2017/ 18, despite providing more services. There are financial penalties for the contractor if it fails to achieve these targets. Constraints economic, scale, institutional Bristol has successfully overcome a range of constraints through partnership. It has formed a Waste Partnership with adjoining municipalities to create an effective governance of municipal waste management and achieve effective economies of scale. It has worked with private sector delivery partners to secure the investment in infrastructure. Measures to improve statistical data on waste collection & treatment Statistical data for waste collection and treatment are based on actual weighbridge tickets and the data audited. The waste collection contractors are using detailed data on collection activities to design improved communication activities and to target communications on areas most likely to benefit. 12

13 Quality of recycling, and by type i.e. glass, paper etc Bristol already collects a very high grade of source segregated recyclable and compostable materials, which achieve good prices in the markets. The new waste collection contract gives the contractor the income from these waste streams to incentivise them to maximise the quality. Communications programmes are the main mechanism for protecting the existing high quality streams. Waste collection charges UK local authorities are not permitted to charge for household waste collection except for garden waste and special bulky waste collections. Bristol currently charges for both these services and does not propose to change them. Measures to meet EU legislation Bristol is in full compliance with EU legislation as described above. 13

14 D References West of England Joint Waste Strategy Bristol City Council Headline Waste Strategy Bristol City Council Waste and Recycling Home Page Bristol Waste and Recycling Where does it go website, providing residents with clear and simple information on the destination of all waste collected in the city