"It will be great to see these fantastic results continue and go from strength to strength once the proposed ‘world class’ treatment facilities for Greater Manchester are in place. GMWDA’s new contract for waste services will mean that even more recyclables can be extracted from the waste stream and alternatives uses will be found for waste rather than it all going to landfill. The contract will also give an even more significant push on education so that the important steps of waste reduction, reuse and recycling become even more part of routine"
Councillor Neil Swannick, the Chair of the Authority
Manchester, UK: ‘Well done Greater Manchester’ says a report to the Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority (GMWDA) which was considered last Friday. The report dealt with the considerable improvement in recycling performance for the first quarter compared to the same time last year.
The April to June 2007 recycling and composting performance shows 32.17% compared to the achievement for the same period last year of 25.63%. This gives an additional 6.54% recycling and composting of household wastes, though this represents in excess of a 25% improvement on last year’s figure.
GMWDA is the largest of six English waste disposal authorities that were created under the Local Government Act 1985.
The authority provides waste disposal services for 958,000 households in Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside and Trafford and handles around 5% of national municipal waste.
GMWDA says that the overall improvement has been assisted by a increased public participation in recycling services and improving facilities at Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs).
Waste minimisation
In addition to this important boost to recycling, there has also been a significant decrease of 4.29% in the amount of waste arising during the first quarter, against the national picture of growth according to GMWDA.
Councillor Neil Swannick, the Chair of the Authority said:
“We are thrilled to see how well Greater Manchester is doing not just in the important area of recycling but also in the vital area of waste reduction. There has been a large amount of work by GMWDA and the nine collection authorities, but the largest pat on the back really has to go to the residents of Greater Manchester as these results could only have been made possible by the daily participation of residents across the conurbation.
"It will be great to see these fantastic results continue and go from strength to strength once the proposed ‘world class’ treatment facilities for Greater Manchester are in place. GMWDA’s new contract for waste services will mean that even more recyclables can be extracted from the waste stream and alternatives uses will be found for waste rather than it all going to landfill. The contract will also give an even more significant push on education so that the important steps of waste reduction, reuse and recycling become even more part of routine.”
GMWDA is in the later stages of procurement of a 25 year waste services contract using the Private Finance Initiative (PFI). The Viridor/Laing consortia was appointed as the Preferred Bidder in January and planning applications are being progressively submitted for waste infrastructure across the Greater Manchester area. The Authority has more recently provided details of the emerging technical solution and new infrastructure.