staffordshire and stoke-on-trent joint waste core strategy
TRANSCRIPT
www.staffordshire.gov.uk
Planning CommitteeSite Visit Protocol
Staffordshire and Stoke-on-TrentJoint Waste Core Strategy 2010 - 2026
Evidence Base Report 4 - Maintaining Landfill CapacitySeptember 2011
11 Introduction
22 What are the types of landfill?
33 What are the economic influences affecting landfill?
54 What are the relevant policies influencing futurelandfill disposal?
75 What are the forecasts for landfill requirements?
96 What is the current landfill capacity?
137 Do we need additional landfill capacity?
Contents
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1 Introduction
1.1 This report provides general information relating to the landfilling of waste andalso to landfilling within Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent as well as providinginformation about existing landfill capacity and forecasted requirements for landfilldisposal.
1Introduction
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2 What are the types of landfill?
2.1 Landfill is the disposal of waste into or onto land. Today, landfill sites areengineered and operated to strict technical standards in order to reduce environmentaleffects.
2.2 Most types of waste may be disposed of via landfill, however since 2002 landfillsites are now classified for receiving either hazardous, non-hazardous, or inert wastes.This has ended the practice of co-disposal of waste. The move to dedicated landfillsfor hazardous waste has dictated tighter controls over site engineering and the natureof the waste going into the sites.
2.3 Landfill sites need to be engineered in order to prevent pollutants being releasedinto the ground and atmosphere. The level of engineering differs depending on thetype of waste accepted by the landfill. A non hazardous waste landfill needs moreengineering than an inert landfill. A lining system is used to ensure that no pollutantsreach clean water or soil. A system of drains is installed in and around the landfill tocollect the polluted liquid leachate that arises when water falls into the site. As thebiodegradable waste in a non hazardous landfill site rots down, gases such as carbondioxide and methane are released. These gases are harmful to the environment sothere is a requirement to cap the landfill and install pipes to collect the gas. There isthen an opportunity to burn the gas to generate electricity.
2.4 For more information on the classification of wastes, see below:
Hazardous Waste
2.5 Hazardous waste is essentially waste that contains hazardous properties thatmay render it harmful to human health or the environment. The Hazardous WasteDirective (HWD) defines hazardous waste as wastes featuring on the list of hazardouswastes in the European Waste Catalogue 2002, because they possess one or moreof the 14 hazardous properties set out in Annex III of the HWD regulations. Examplesof hazardous waste are substances such as brake fluid or waste paint.
Non-hazardous
2.6 Non hazardous waste is waste that is not inert and does not fall within thehazardous waste classification. It is formally defined as waste which does NOTfeature on the list of hazardous waste in the European Waste Catalogue (EWC)2002. Examples of non hazardous waste are paper, plasterboard and plastic.
Inert Waste
2.7 Waste is considered inert if it does not undergo any significant physical,chemical or biological transformations, does not chemically or physically react andif its total leachability and pollutant content and the eco-toxicity of its leachate areinsignificant and do not endanger the quality of any surface water or groundwater.Examples of inert waste are glass, bricks and concrete.
What are the types of landfill?2
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3 What are the economic influences affecting landfill?
3.1 There are a number of economic influences that will affect the cost of landfilldisposal and will affect the need for landfill capacity.
3.2 Landfill Tax at April 2011 stands at £56 per tonne as the standard rate fornon-inert waste and the Government has made provision for the standard rate toincrease by £8 per tonne per year to £80 per tonne by 2014. The low rate of £2.50per tonne is applicable to inert waste. This financial impetus is aimed at increasingthe quantity of waste diverted from landfill and to recover more value from waste.
3.3 The Waste and Emissions Trading Act (2003) provides the legal frameworkfor the Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme and for the allocation of tradable landfillallowances to each waste disposal authority in England. These allowances conveythe right for a waste disposal authority to landfill a certain amount of biodegradablemunicipal waste in a specified scheme year. Note however that the GovernmentReview of Waste Policy in England 2011, published 14 June 2011, abolishes theLATS from 2013.
3.4 The landfill allowance for Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent is shown in thetable below (as shown in the Joint Municipal Strategy 2007)
Table 1: Landfill allowance for Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent
Total Allocation(Tonnes)
Stoke-on-TrentCity Council
(tonnes)
StaffordshireCounty Council
(tonnes)
Year
237,29052,945184,3452009/10
210,87747,051163,8262010/11
184,46441,158143,3062011/12
158,05235,265122,7872012/13
151,27233,752117,5202013/14
144,49332,240112,2532014/15
137,71330,727106,9862015/16
130,93329,214101,7192016/17
124,15327,70196,4522017/18
117,37426,18991,1852018/19
3What are the economic influences affecting
landfill?
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Total Allocation(Tonnes)
Stoke-on-TrentCity Council
(tonnes)
StaffordshireCounty Council
(tonnes)
Year
110,59424,67685,9182019/20
3.5 This shows that the total allocation for 2010/11 is currently 210,877tpa but willreduce by 100,283 in 9 years to 110,594tpa by 2019/20.
3.6 The aggregates levy was introduced in 2002 to stimulate a reduction in theimpact of aggregate extraction on the environment through the introduction of a taxon the extraction of primary aggregates. This currently stands at £2 per tonne. Thiswill influence the recycling and reuse of waste material that can be then used asalternative aggregate material, which traditionally may have been sent for disposal.
What are the economic influences affectinglandfill?
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4 What are the relevant policies influencing future landfilldisposal?
EU Landfill Directive
4.1 The Directive's overall objective is to:
4.2 “prevent or reduce as far as possible the negative effects on the environment,in particular the pollution of surface water, groundwater, soil and air, and on theglobal environment, including the greenhouse effect as well as any resulting risk tohuman health, from the landfilling of waste, during the whole life-cycle of the landfill”.
4.3 The landfill directive has set the UK challenging targets for the progressivereduction of biodegradable municipal waste being sent for disposal in landfill. EUwide targets were established for 2006, 2009 and 2016 for the reduction ofbiodegradable municipal waste. The UK biodegradable waste targets stand as:
By 2010 the biodegradable waste landfilled must be reduced to 75% of thatproduced in 1995.By 2013 the biodegradable waste landfilled must be reduced to 50% of thatproduced in 1995.By 2020 the biodegradable waste landfilled must be reduced to 35% of thatproduced in 1995.
National Waste Strategy 2007
4.4 The National Waste strategy aims to meet and exceed the Landfill Directivediversion targets for biodegradable municipal waste in 2010, 2013 and 2020 and toincrease diversion from landfill of non-municipal waste and secure better integrationof treatment for municipal and non-municipal waste.
4.5 A greater focus on waste prevention will be recognised through a new targetto reduce the amount of household waste not re-used, recycled or composted fromover 22.2 million tonnes in 2000 by 29% to 15.8 million tonnes in 2010 with anaspiration to reduce it to 12.2 million tonnes in 2020 – a reduction of 45%.
4.6 On the basis of the policies set out in Waste Strategy for England 2007, levelsof commercial and industrial waste landfilled are expected to fall by 20% by 2010compared to 2004. The Government is considering, in conjunction with theconstruction industry, a target to halve the amount of construction, demolition andexcavation wastes going to landfill by 2012 as a result of waste reduction, re-useand recycling.
4.7 Currently, there are no targets for the diversion of commercial & industrial orconstruction and demolition wastes but the Government may be about to implementtargets for both these waste streams.
5What are the relevant policies influencing
future landfill disposal?
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PPS10: Planning for Sustainable Waste Management.
4.8 The overall objective of Government policy on waste is to protect human healthand the environment by producing less waste and by using it as a resource whereverpossible. Through more sustainable waste management, moving the managementof waste up the ‘waste hierarchy’ of reduction, reuse, recycling and composting,using waste as a source of energy, and only disposing as a last resort, theGovernment aims to break the link between economic growth and the environmentalimpact of waste.
Regional policy
4.9 The Phase 2 revision of the Regional Strategy included the following draftpolicies that are relevant to development involving the disposal of waste:
4.10 Draft Policy W2: Targets for Waste Management states that ‘each WastePlanning Authority, or sub-region, through their Local Development Documents, willneed to plan for a minimum provision of new facilities to reprocess and managewaste in accordance with the tonnages set out below in five year bands, at sitesdistributed across their areas’.
4.11 Draft Policy W11 relates to planning for new sites for landfill and requires thatLocal Development Frameworks should restrict the granting of planning permissionfor new sites for landfill to proposals which:
are necessary to restore despoiled or degraded land, including mineral workingsare otherwise necessary to meet specific local circumstanceare supported by robust evidence of suitability and need arising from a shortageof local capacity that exists in the plan periodwhere geological conditions are suitable for landfill operations.
4.12 Draft Policy W12 Hazardous Waste – Final Disposal Sites states that WasteDevelopment Frameworks for the non Major Urban Areas should identify final disposalsites for Hazardous Waste including, where necessary, encouraging the creation ofseparately appropriate engineered cells in landfills for Stabilised Non-ReactiveHazardous Waste, where the geological conditions are suitable.
Joint Municipal Waste Strategy
4.13 As part of the key objectives and targets in the Headline Strategy, Staffordshireand Stoke-on-Trent have set a target of zero waste to primary landfill by the targetyear 2020 as one of its overarching principles. This means that no municipal wastewill be sent as primary landfill and only pre-treated wastes which cannot be recycledor recovered (e.g. hazardous waste) will be permitted to be landfilled as secondarylandfill.
What are the relevant policies influencingfuture landfill disposal?
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5 What are the forecasts for landfill requirements?
5.1 The West Midlands Regional Assembly’s “Landfill Capacity Study-2009 update”provides forecasts of cumulative landfill capacity needed to meet the current RegionalStrategy (Phase 2 Revision) based projections for waste over the period 2007/08 to2025/26. Referring to Scenario 1 (RSS based projections adjusted for economicinfluence) of the study, the following landfill requirements are forecast:
Table 2: Forecast landfill requirements
Hazardous
(tonnes)
CD&E
(tonnes)
C&I
(tonnes)
MSW (tonnes)
617,6022,150,6428,907,6131,855,120Staffordshire
52,914697,602706,730Stoke-on-Trent
1,929,20817,223,74641,871,91815,229,847West MidlandsTotal
34.5%16.5%21.2%16.8%Staffs & SOTas % of WMtotal
5.2 This indicates a total annual landfill capacity requirement of approximately800,000tpa for Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent. The West Midlands total annuallandfill capacity requirement is 4 million tonnes per annum. The study’s findingssuggest that inert landfill capacity in the West Midlands region would be exhaustedby 2017/18 and non-hazardous landfill capacity would be exhausted by 2021/22.
5.3 The report also recommends that the release of additional void space shouldbegin to be progressed from around 2014/15. This recommendation is made on thebasis of restricting the availability of landfill capacity and thereby encouraging provisionof other waste management facilities.
5.4 Other scenarios used in the study result in similar conclusions but forecastthat landfill capacity will not be exhausted until 2023/24 for inert wastes and 2028/29for non-hazardous wastes.
5.5 The Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Joint Waste Core Strategy DPD EvidenceBase Report- Technical Paper (produced in 2008 to support the Issues and OptionsSeptember 2008 consultation) states that the existing capacity of landfill forStaffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent is estimated to be 1.476mtpa. The evidence basereport also indicates that additional landfill capacity could be required by 2018/ 19based on using landfill capacity at 2.1 million cubic metres per year. This rate ofdepletion of void capacity assumes a current rate of landfilling.
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5.6 It is also assumed that Staffordshire “imports” a significant amount of wastefor disposal but data recorded by the Environment Agency does not providecomprehensive information to accurately verify this assumption.The data shows that1,103,935.36tpa was landfilled in Staffordshire in 2008 but of this total figure 826,581is “non codeable”. This means that only 25% of the total amount of waste landfilledwas coded. Of this 201,501tpa is from Staffordshire and 75,851tpa is imported fromother areas.
5.7 With neighbouring authorities and regions also aiming to increase recyclingand decrease landfill, however, the quantity of waste brought into Staffordshire fordisposal is anticipated to decrease with the consequence of conserving the existinglandfill capacity in Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent.
5.8 Environment Agency data for landfilling demonstrates that the amount oflandfilling has been decreasing for several years.
What are the forecasts for landfillrequirements?
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6 What is the current landfill capacity?
6.1 The table below shows the current capacity in Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent.It also distinguishes between sites that possess an Environment Agency license andthose sites which are planning obligated waste sites i.e. sites with the benefit of aplanning permission for waste disposal only.
Table 3: Current landfill capacity
Associatedwith MineralWorkings
Operational lifeOperatorSite Name
Hazardous Landfill Cell - non operational
No2015BiffaMeece
ConfidentialTotal capacity
Non hazardous Landfill - operational
No2023BiffaPoplars
No2015BiffaMeece
Yes2017AggregatesIndustries
Newbold
No2020BiffaNewstead
Yes2028LafargeWalleys
13,900,000Total capacity(tonnes)
Non hazardous landfill- non/pre operational
NoRestricted to PFAfrom power station
International PowerRugeley PowerStation
Yes2030. Start date is2015
BiffaWilnecote
4,400,000Total capacity(tonnes)
Non hazardous landfill – planning obligated (mineral sitewith planning permission to restore by landfill)
Yes 2042BiffaSaredon
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Associatedwith MineralWorkings
Operational lifeOperatorSite Name
YesStart date 2050IbstockRedhurst
YesStart date 2035K Parnell LtdHolly Bank
YesStart date 2035WienerbergerWarstones Road
YesStart date 2015Lafarge AggregatesCheslyn Hay
12,000,000Total capacity(tonnes)
Inert landfill - operational
Yes3yrsLafarge AggregatesWhitemore
Haye/Alrewas
YesCessation date 2023Walsall ConcreteCranebrook
Yes2013F.G.DaviesEnville Road
Yes4yrsTarmacSeisdon
YesCessation date 2013Tarmac LtdHints Quarry
Yes2017Aggregates
IndustriesNewbold
3,130,000Total capacity(tonnes)
Inert landfill – non/pre operational
Yes2014Tarmac LtdShireoak
No12.4yrsBiffaFenton Manor*
ConfidentialTotal capacity
Inert landfill – planning obligated mineral site with planningpermission to restore by landfill)
YesCessation date 2024Salop S&GFour Ashes
YesCessation date 2032Mr KimberlyChatterley Quarry
685,000Total capacity(tonnes)
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6.2 This table respects confidentiality and so is unable to give figures for individualsites.
6.3 Note also *the development potential of Fenton Manor Landfill Site,Stoke-on-Trent is being explored as part of the comprehensive regeneration of theInner Urban Core set out in the adopted Newcastle-under-Lyme and Stoke-on-TrentCore Spatial Strategy. The capacity at this site has not been included in total givenfor operational capacity.
6.4 The map below shows the location of landfill sites in Staffordshire andStoke-on-Trent:
11What is the current landfill capacity?
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Figure 1: Landfill sites in Staffordshire
6.5 The map shows that there are perhaps some geographical imbalances in theprovision of landfill sites, with more sites located in the south of the County.
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7 Do we need additional landfill capacity?
7.1 The Evidence Base-Technical Report (produced in 2008) indicated thatremaining landfill capacity in Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent would be exhaustedby 2018/19 depending on the amount of waste imports. This was based on a rate ofdepletion that did not account for forecasts on waste arisings or the impact ofmeasures to encourage further diversion of waste from landfill disposal.
7.2 The regional landfill study produced in 2009 provides a set of forecasts forlandfill capacity requirements for Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent. Referring toforecasts that have been used for the Regional Strategy (but adjusted for currenteconomic conditions) and estimates of current landfill capacity, the followingobservations are made:
7.3 Between 2009 to the end of 2026, the annual forecasted landfill capacityrequired for the disposal of inert wastes arising in Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trentdecreases by approximately 70,000tpa and existing operational capacity would bedepleted to 600,000t. This observation needs to take into account:
It is assumed that inert material is all directed towards inert landfill facilities;The availability of existing operational capacity will be affected by timescalesfor the restoration of mineral workings and the rate of mineral working at quarries;The rate of depletion will be affected by “imports” of construction, demolitionand excavation wastes from outside the area particularly in the south of thecounty;Additional capacity may become available as additional quarries are permitted;Capacity available at planning obligated sites may not be realised if pollutioncontrol permits are not granted;The impact of measures to improve the recycling construction and demolitionwaste will affect forecasts for landfill capacity.
7.4 Between 2009 and the end of 2026, the annual forecasted landfill capacityrequired for the disposal of non hazardous waste from municipal and commercial &industrial waste streams arising in Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent decreases by60,000t to approximately 520,000tpa. Over this period operational landfill capacitywill be depleted to approximately 10 million tonnes. These observations should takeinto account:
The availability of some of the existing operational capacity will be affected bytimescales for the restoration of mineral workings and the rate of mineral workingat quarries;The rate of depletion will be affected by “imports” from neighbouring areas thatare uncertain;Capacity available at planning obligated sites may not be realised if pollutioncontrol permits are not granted.
13Do we need additional landfill capacity?
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7.5 Draft Regional Strategy policy W11 requires that the granting of new landfillsites should be restricted. Currently, based on forecasts for waste produced inStaffordshire & Stoke-on-Trent, there is sufficient landfill capacity over the next 15years and there is no evidence of a requirement “to meet specific local circumstance”.The assessments also indicate that for non hazardous waste there is likely to becapacity to receive “imports” and there is also potential additional capacity availableat planning obligated sites.
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