"With a Single Waste Disposal Authority we would put more emphasis on recycling and new technologies that would capture heat and produce biofuels and hydrogen from London’s rubbish in order to tackle climate change. We would also avoid these lengthy and costly proceedings"
Ken Livingstone, London Mayor
West London Waste Disposal Authority have been granted a judicial review in relation to some aspects of the London Mayor’s powers.
The need for a review stems from an earlier direction to the Authority by the London Mayor, Ken Livingstone, which required the WLWDA to properly consider the Mayor’s municipal waste strategy, and to ensure that when they tender for a new waste contract they choose the most energy efficient ways of dealing with the waste and not simply incinerating it.
WLWDA objected to this direction and so applied to the High Court of Justice for a Judicial Review of the London Mayor’s decision.
The Authority is relying to a great extent on using a facility, such as the Viridor/Grundon, 400kt/37MW, energy from waste (e-f-w) facility at Colnbrook, to the west of London, which is due to come on-line in the second half of 2008.
To see an artistic impression of the Lakeside Efw facility at Colnbrook (courtesy of Viridor), please click here.
The WLWDA seems to have, to some extent, been forced into a corner as there is a fear that, should the Authority fail to sign a contract for the treatment of municipal waste possibly at Colnbrook, it may fail to reach LATS targets from 2009 onwards and thereby face the prospect of heavy fines on a per tonne basis.
Mike Nicholls, Chief Executive of the WLWDA, has indicated that an early decision on judicial review was important because of the procurement time scale.
Attempts by the Mayor to established a single waste disposal authority for Greater London, which he considers essential to achieve cost effective sustainable waste management, have so far failed.
Ken Livingstone said:
“The Government supports the present waste system and sees no need to change the way that London’s waste is managed. I believe that we need a Single Waste Disposal Authority in London, which would ensure waste is properly co-ordinated now and over the next 25 years. With a Single Waste Disposal Authority we would put more emphasis on recycling and new technologies that would capture heat and produce biofuels and hydrogen from London’s rubbish in order to tackle climate change. We would also avoid these lengthy and costly proceedings.”
In 2005-06, the WLWDA recycled and composted 24.6% of its household waste which for a group of metropolitan authorities does not seem, on the face of it, too be a bad performance. However it fell short of the statutory Best Value Performance Standard (BVPS) required of 27%.
In its Best Value Plan for 2006-07, the authority acknowledges the shortfall but says that within the next few years it intends to exceed the BVPS and in the Municipal Waste Strategy it has indicated a rate of 40% recycling and composting in 2009-10.
Environmental organisations, such as Friends of the Earth, support the Mayor in his "direction" as they are against incineration as a treatment process preferring to maximise recycling.