FAQs
- 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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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13. What impact will the Integrated Resource Park have on people?
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.
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14. Will the energy generated by the new facilities pay back the economic investment?
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.
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15. How does the city council’s plan for an Integrated Resource Park support Environment Capital status?
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.
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16. Can the city council reassure people that the site will be operated safely?
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.
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17. How can we be sure that the new facilities will meet Peterborough’s needs for the next 30 years?
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.
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18. How much energy will the Integrated Resource Park need to operate and where will this come from?
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.
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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.
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