WHAT HAPPENS TO YOUR WASTE

Over Recent Months, there has been considerable concern throughout the UK, that our waste could and is in some cases ending up in foreign lands polluting a wide variety of unsuspecting communities.

Whilst the by weekly waste collection is of concern to a number of residents, we can rest assured that Telford and Wrekin Council’s Waste procedures are working to ensure that our waste is NOT polluting foreign soil.

The checks and policies that Telford and Wrekin Council Waste Management employ, certainly seem to be very robust and are closely monitored.

It is important to note that some of the material collected for recycling can, once it has been processed in this country and is no longer classed as a waste but as a material, end up in countries such as China as this is where the raw material is needed for further manufacturing.

Notes of Checks and explanation from T&W Council

We are very conscious of the efforts made by many residents of the Borough to recycle materials and are endeavouring to provide more recycling opportunities at the same time as encouraging more residents to utilise the existing ones. Clearly reducing the amount of waste we produce in the first place is another of our key objectives.

All of the waste management team at the Council are committed recyclers and we maintain keen interest in recycling matters for professional as well as personal reasons. We, like you, are concerned to see that materials are not only reused or recycled but that the whole waste management system is as sustainable as possible. It concerns us when we see coverage of UK wastes being deposited in other countries and we are as concerned as you to see that this does not happen to Telford and Wrekin wastes.

The Council has the responsibility to deliver against waste reduction, recycling and diversion from landfill targets. As part of the process of delivering waste services we have to make returns to Government accurately reporting weights of recyclables and residual wastes, the methods of collection, handling, reuse, recycling and disposal also naming the third parties involved as an overall duty of care.

Delivering these services also accounts for a significant part of the Councils expenditure and is therefore subject to significant checking. For these reasons we employ a number of means to track and audit the waste and recyclable material movements through the service. These checks extend to the recyclable materials we collect at the kerbside, bring banks and CRC sites.

The Council does not provide any of the waste management services directly, instead we employ contractors appointed after competitive tendering processes. The bulk of the waste service is provided under a contract with Telford Waste Services (TWS) but some elements are also provided under contract with SITA. Some smaller scale contracts are also made direct by the Council. In turn the major contractors, TWS and SITA, have their own contracts with organisations for recycling which have to be approved by the Council.

Getting a material from the point of collection to final recycling can involve several stages. Few of the materials collected are delivered to recyclers direct without being mixed with materials from other locations either because they are delivered to facilities in and around Telford where they are bulked or because they are collected as part of ‘milk round’ collection services. Where materials are handled by third parties mixing, bulking and storage of materials are all likely to occur as these processes allow them to maximise any income associated with the material. It is therefore a complex task to track purely the materials collected in Telford and Wrekin while endeavouring to work within the constraints imposed by working via contractors.

The main ways in which recyclable materials reach recyclers are:-

• Direct to the re-processor (delivered to or collected by them from site);
• Via one or more merchants; and
• Into compliance schemes run by others (e.g. Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) where the scheme operators place containers on Council sites

The council receive claims for payment for collection and transport from the various contractors. These are backed up with evidence that the services have been carried out. For recyclables and residual wastes the evidence is in the form of weight tickets. Data from the claim and weight tickets provides the basis of the returns and checks the Council makes.

We use the following methods to exercise a duty of care in respect of the respect of the materials collected on our behalf:-

• Restrict what we collect to materials that we know can be recycled;
• Collect the materials separately with residents having separated them at home;
• Only use recyclers who manage contaminants from their processes responsibly;
• Only use recyclers who maximise the amount of material they recycle;
• Require weight evidence for materials sent from our sites for recycling;
• Require weight evidence for materials as they arrive at re-processors; and
• Carry out checks on procedures at companies handling materials from our collections.

We know that there are rejects from certain of the recyclable material streams resulting from the removal of contamination during processes. For example relatively small amounts such as plastic wrappers on some magazines sent to paper recycling mills.

In terms of the checks we make on the waste movements through our systems we carry out the following:-

1. We require weight information for all of the materials collected from our sites and at the kerbside. The information is in the form of weight tickets. Where weighing devices are used for charging purposes the devices have to be subject to regular third party checking for accuracy. We also carry out spot checks on the weigh bridges etc to ensure that operatives are correctly recording waste types and origins.
2. We receive claims for payment in electronic format but we carry out checks on the electronic information against the weight information. Any discrepancies have to be resolved or payment is withheld. Where the electronic information does not match the weight evidence the weight evidence is also amended.
3. Where the Council is paying one of its contractors to transport material direct to recyclers or merchants we still require weight information in order to certify that the material has been delivered.
4. We record information about rejected loads and of contaminants returned to our contractors for disposal.
5. We carry out audits of which merchants and reprocessors our contractors are using.

Attached with this letter is a breakdown of the routes our materials follow, based on which contractor collects them. The information also details the third parties and reprocessors involved.

It is important to note that some of the material collected for recycling can, once it has been processed in this country and is no longer classed as a waste but as a material, end up in countries such as China as this is where the raw material is needed for further manufacturing.

TWS RECYCLING END DESTINATION INFORMATION

Cans/Aerosols

First Destination
Pink Skips

Second Destination Oakley Arnold
Separation of Materials takes place

Third Destination:

Aluminium Steel Waste

Novelis via Transfer Station
end destination
Made into aluminium foil and sold to market
European Metal Recycling Cartwright’s
end destination
Waste Transfer Station & Landfill

Fourth Destination

Corus Port Talbot
end destination
Sold to market
 

Car Batteries

First Destination
Taurus Metals
end destination
Melted down and sold to markets

Card

First Destination
Pink Skips

Second Destination
Parry and Evans
end destination
Sold to Far East for recycling back into packaging material

CRT’s

First Destination
The Mann Organisation

Second Destination

Ferrous Metals Non Ferrous Metals Plastics Glass Waste
Processing facility Processing facility Processing facility Glass treatment facility Landfill
End destination End destination End destination End destination End destination

Florescent Tubes

First Destination
Balcan

Second Destination

Glass Mercury
 

MID UK Recycling Quicksilver
end destination
end destination
Made into road aggregate and wall insulation Distilled
 

Engine Oil

First Destination
BOS Waste Oils Limited

Second Destination
Oil Salvage
End destination
Treated, reprocessed and made into alternate burning fuel for quarrying and steel industry.

Fridges

First Destination
Aquaforce
End destination
Materials broken down, shredded and sold to market

Glass

First Destination
Pink Skips

Second Destination
Recresco
End destination
Recycled back into glass, or made into road aggregate

Green

First Destination
Simpro
end destination
Local On farm composting

Household Batteries

First Destination
G & P Batteries

Second Destination

Alkaline Ni-Cad Nicle Metal Hydride Lithium Ion Primary Lithium

H J Enthoven & Sons Snam Snam H J Enthoven & Sons Citron SA
end destination end destination end destination end destination end destination

Paper

First Destination
Pink Skips

Second Destination
Parry & Evans

Third Destination
UPM Kymmene, Deeside
End destination
Paper Mill

Plastic

First Destination
Pink Skips

Second Destination
J & A Young (Leicester) Ltd
End destination
Shredded and sold to market

Scrap

First Destination
Rollasons
End destination
Sold to foundries as a raw material

Tetra

First Destination
Orbero Mill, Sweden
End destination
Recycling Mill

Textiles

First Destination
Textiles Good Condition European Textiles Shoes Good Condition
End destination
Eastern Europe for Reuse Made into rag wipes and sold to engineering companies Africa for Reuse

Tyres

First Destination
DME
End destination
Chipped and sold to UK companies for variety of uses including play mats on playgrounds

WEE

First Destination
LDA SDA

Oakley Arnold Overtons
End destination Plastic Metals
Sold to market End destination
Exported Second Destination
Metal and Waste Recycling Limited ER Coley (Steel)
End destination End destination

Wood

First Destination
Pink Skips

Second Destination Second Destination
A & A Recycling Alan’s Skip Hire

Third Destination Third Destination
Kronospan Kronospan
End destination End destination
Chipped and sold to market Chipped and sold to market

SITA RECYCLING END DESTINATION INFORMATION

Cans/Aerosols

First Destination Oakley Arnold
Separation of Materials takes place

Second Destination:

Aluminium Steel Waste

Novelis via Transfer Station
end destination
Made into aluminium foil and sold to market
European Metal Recycling Cartwright’s
end destination
Waste Transfer Station

Third Destination

Corus Port Talbot
end destination
Sold to market



Car Batteries

First Destination
G & P Batteries

Second Destination
H J Enthoven & Sons
end destination

Reclaimed lead sold to industry, Polypropylene - in house recycling, Acid - in house recycling

Card

First Destination
Pink Skips

Second Destination
Parry and Evans
end destination
Sold to Far East for recycling back into packaging material

CRT’s

First Destination
The Mann Organisation

Second Destination

Ferrous Metals Non Ferrous Metals Plastics Glass Waste
Processing facility Processing facility Processing facility Glass treatment facility Landfill
End destination End destination End destination End destination End destination

Florescent Tubes

First Destination
Lampcare
End destination
Raw materials recycled, mercury distilled

 

Engine Oil

First Destination
Oil Salvage
End destination
Treated, reprocessed and made into alternate burning fuel for quarrying and steel industry.

Fridges

First Destination
Aquaforce
End destination
Materials broken down, shredded and sold to market

Glass

First Destination
Recresco
End destination
Recycled back into glass, or made into road aggregate

Green

First Destination
DM Lea
end destination
Local on farm composted

Household Batteries

First Destination
G & P Batteries

Second Destination

Alkaline Ni-Cad Nicle Metal Hydride Lithium Ion Primary Lithium

H J Enthoven & Sons Snam Snam H J Enthoven & Sons Citron SA
end destination end destination end destination end destination end destination

Paper

First Destination
UPM Kymmene, Deeside
End destination
Paper Mill

Plastic

First Destination
Pink Skips

Second Destination
J & A Young (Leicester) Ltd
End destination
Shredded and sold to market

Scrap

First Destination
Oakley Arnold
End destination
Sold to foundries as a raw material

Tetra

First Destination
Orbero Mill, Sweden
End destination
Recycling Mill

Textiles

First Destination
Textiles Good Condition European Textiles Shoes Good Condition
End destination
Eastern Europe for Reuse Made into rag wipes and sold to engineering companies Africa for Reuse

Tyres

First Destination
DME
End destination
Chipped and sold to UK companies

WEEE

First Destination
LDA SDA

Oakley Arnold Overtons
End destination Plastic Metals
Sold to market End destination
Exported as a material Second Destination
Metal and Waste Recycling Limited ER Coley (Steel)
End destination End destination
 

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Telford Council Watch