An Opportunity too Good to Waste
Mayor of Bedford Borough, Dave Hodgson, and
Bedford Borough Council’s portfolio holder for Environment and
Transport, Charles Royden, have begun a tour of waste treatment
facilities, with a visit to a Mechanical Biological Treatment (MBT)
facility in Cambridge. The visit to the site at Waterbeach was
undertaken as part of the Council’s work to identify a sustainable
solution for dealing with the Borough’s waste in the future.
The site visit marks the start of the ongoing
consultation process, which will be visited and considered over the
coming months.
Under the EU Landfill Directive, councils must
reduce the volume of biodegradable municipal waste going to
landfill to 75 per cent of 2001 levels by 2010; to 50 per cent by
2013; and to 35 per cent by 2020.
Councillor Charles Royden said: “If Bedford
Borough Council does nothing to meet its targets, we will face
fines of up to £150 per tonne for the excess (equal to £1 million
annually in 20012/13, and £3.1 million in 2019/20). In
addition, we would have to pay a share of an EU penalty on the UK
of up to £500,000 per day.”
The Mayor of Bedford, Dave Hogdson said:
“Bedford Borough residents have shown excellent commitment to
kerbside recycling, garden waste collections and other initiatives,
but there is still more that can be done to reduce the amount of
waste sent to landfill. We are now starting to consider new waste
facilities in order to identify a sustainable method of dealing
with the black bin waste.”
Bedford Borough Council are investigating
different waste treatment facilities that complement the existing
and successful recycling and composting initiatives to increase the
diversion of waste away from landfill.