Landfill protest slams contract
A TWENTY year contract to handle North Tyneside's waste is not enforceable, full of holes, and needs to be scrapped, campaigners claim.
Under the Freedom of Information Act the ‘No to Landfill’ campaign group has obtained a copy of a 1997 deal between North Tyneside Council and waste management company Sita.
In the contract Sita agreed to handle 80,000 tonnes of the borough’s waste with 60,000 being burnt at a waste to energy facility in Billingham on Teesside, and the remaining 20,000 being buried at a landfill site in Ellington, near Ashington.
But last year only 7,000 tonnes of North Tyneside’s waste went to Billingham while the rest ended up in landfill at Seghill, not Ellington.
“When the contract to handle the borough’s waste went out to tender Sita made a lovely presentation to the council in November 1996 over its huge waste capacity and why they were the best choice,” said Alan Fidler, co-ordinator of the No to Landfill group.
“But they have constantly failed to meet the targets they themselves have set.”
However, Sita claim they are fully complying with the terms of the contract.
A spokesperson said: “The council and Sita UK have worked closely together to meet the challenges that arise within our contractual term and Sita UK is fully complying with its obligations under the waste disposal contract.”
In presentation documents shown to the council Sita said the Billingham facility has an annual capacity of 225,000 tonnes, with a deal already signed with the four Teesside boroughs to burn 160,000, leaving North Tyneside with the rest.
“If this happened North Tyneside would be burning around 75 per cent of its waste, meaning it would be way ahead of the government’s target to divert 40 per cent of waste away from landfill by 2020,” said Mr Fidler
“So clearly North Tyneside snapped up the deal, but the contract they signed is abysmal. It is full of holes and has no ‘teeth’. It’s just not enforceable.”
In the document Sita has an obligation to use ‘up to’ 25 per cent of the capacity at Billingham for North Tyneside’s waste.
“But this means they could use only one per cent of the capacity for North Tyneside and still be abiding with the contract,” said Mr Fidler.
“Which is why the majority of our waste has gone to Seghill, not Billingham, and there is nothing North Tyneside Council can do about it.
“Let us not forget the site at Seghill was supposed to last until 2014.
“I knew the contract with the council was flawed but I never imagined it could be so bad until I saw it for myself.”
The closest Sita came to burning 60,000 tonnes of North Tyneside’s waste was in 2000 when 37,000 tonnes were taken to Billingham.
A spokesperson for Sita added: “The planning application for Seghill is based upon the regional landfill capacity requirements for all waste arisings, and again under this best case landfill diversion and recycling scenario means that there will still be a need for over ten million m3 of landfill capacity between now and 2020.”
A North Tyneside Council spokesperson said: “Government targets and legislation on waste have changed dramatically in the last ten years and North Tyneside Council has beaten current targets on recycling for instance.
“We are continually working with Sita to deliver new waste targets and to get the best deal in terms of waste management for the borough.”
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Weather for Whitley Bay
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
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