Councillors from the West of England look at how waste is managed in other areas. 

A group of councillors and council officers went on a recent fact finding mission to see how waste is treated by other local authorities.  They visited Hampshire and Dorset to see for themselves how other areas deal with residual waste.

In Hampshire the residual household waste which is not recycled or composted is sent to a new ultra modern Energy Recovery facility run by Veolia Environmental Services.  Housed in a space age looking silver dome at Marchwood near Southampton, councillors had a chance to see the processes involved in turning rubbish into energy.

They saw how the hot gases produced in the combustion process pass through a boiler where steam is produced.  A turbo generator uses the steam to produce electricity which is then sent to the National Grid.  They also saw the computer controlled processes which ensure that the gases produced are cleaned before being released into the atmosphere.

By contrast they also went to visit a very different facility in Dorset run by New Earth Solutions.  Here waste is converted into various grades of compost.  The best quality compost is made from organic waste such as garden and food waste. The organic material is placed in large rows inside closed sheds where it heats up rapidly to assist the process of decomposing.  This produces a top quality compost which can be sold to garden centres and farms.  Mixed household waste can be made into lower grade material suitable for land reclamation after it has been carefully sorted and screened to remove recyclable and other materials which are not compostable.   

Cllr Mark Bradshaw, Executive Member for Access and Environment for Bristol City Council commented on the day: “It was useful to visit facilities applying different technologies to treat waste. This is a highly innovative sector and we are looking for the best approaches to dealing with our sub-regional waste requirements.”

Cllr Heather Goddard Executive Member for Communities for South Gloucestershire Council, said:  "We are determined to continue to investigate all options and technologies to address the looming threat of increasing landfill tax rises which is facing the West of England.  On a personal note I was impressed with the clean environment of the Energy from Waste facility and the stringent controls over emissions which are monitored 24 hours a day and the fact they were well below the criteria set by both Europe and our Government."
 
Bath & North East Somerset Cllr, Brian Simmons, observed that although the compost plant in Dorset handles 50,000 tonnes of material the only smell was of warm rotting wood reminiscent of a tropical rainforest during the monsoon!

ends 
Photo caption
New Earth Solutions in Dorset  rubbish is being turned into compost and is clean enough to be handled.
Left to right:  Cllrs Barbara Lewis, Heather Goddard, Brian Simmons and Mark Bradshaw

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