Guildford challenges County Council on waste contract

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Mon 4th Jul 2005

Surrey County Council should re-negotiate its contract with Surrey Waste Management to exclude large-scale waste incinerators such as that proposed for Slyfield a few years ago. So said Guildford Borough Council's Environment Scrutiny Committee when it considered the contract at its meeting last night. The details of the 25-year contract signed by Surrey County Council in 1999 had been released to the scrutiny committee under the Freedom of Information Act.

Cllr Liz Hogger, Liberal Democrat Environment spokesperson, said "I am horrified at the County Council's lack of ambition on recycling in this contract, and by the emphasis on large-scale incineration. A target of 25% recycling across the whole of Surrey, lasting until the end of the contract in 2024, is pathetic. And it is appalling that the contract offers the same increased payments for incineration of waste, under the euphemism of 'recovery', as it does for recycling or composting waste."

The Environment Scrutiny Committee agreed to Cllr Hogger's proposal that

• the Borough Council should conduct a fuller scrutiny of the County Council's waste contract at its 24 October meeting, and invite representatives of Surrey County Council, Surrey Waste Management, and local environmental organisations such as Guildford Environmental Forum, GAIN (Guildford Anti-Incinerator Network) and Friends of the Earth

• the Borough Council's Executive should be advised to write immediately to Surrey County Council's Executive requesting that any renegotiation of the waste contract should involve more ambitious recycling targets, the deletion of large-scale incineration, and the provision within the county of facilities to minimise, re-use, recycle or compost all appropriate waste generated within Surrey, including plastics, organic waste including kitchen waste, and batteries as well as mixed paper, card, glass and cans.

Cllr Hogger said after the meeting "We need to change the mind-set. It's important we keep on saying to the County Council's Tory Executive that we don't want huge incinerators but we do want to minimise waste and we do want facilities to re-use, recycle and compost as much as possible. The County Council has let us down over facilities for plastic recycling and composting kitchen waste. They must do better, and raise their sights for the sake of our environment."

Notes to the Editor:

This motion was proposed by Lib Dem spokesman Cllr Liz Hogger, seconded by Cllr Tony Phillips, and agreed by the Environment Scrutiny Committee:

This Committee agrees that:

I. A fuller scrutiny of the contract should be carried out at the 24 October meeting of this Committee, and that representatives of all interested organisations should be invited to attend and play a full part in the scrutiny, including at least: Surrey County Council, Surrey Waste Management, Guildford Environmental Forum, GAIN and Friends of the Earth

II. It is recommended to Guildford Borough Council's Executive that the Council should write immediately to Surrey County Council requesting that the following points should be included in any renegotiation of the contract:

a) The contract targets for recycling and composting (including anerobic digestion) should be at least equivalent to those of Guildford Borough Council, namely 60% by 2010, with further increased targets set for the later years of the contract

b) The payment formula should include supplementary payments for waste minimisation, to be acheived in collaboration with collection authorites and businesses within Surrey, for example by working with retailers to reduce packaging

c) The payment formula should be changed so that supplementary payments are made for waste recycled or composted (including anerobic digestion), but not for waste which is incinerated

d) The requirement to build 'energy from waste' (incineration) plants should be deleted, and the use of large-scale incineration should be excluded.

e) SWM should be required to ensure sufficient capacity is made available within the county, either by themselves or by others, to minimise, re-use, recycle or compost all appropriate waste generated within Surrey, including plastics, organic waste including kitchen waste, and batteries as well as mixed paper, card, glass and cans.