The Future of Hertfordshire’s Waste
Hertfordshire County Council is looking for alternatives to landfill for disposal of the county’s household waste.
People in Hertfordshire are doing an excellent job recycling and composting more than the national average - but there’s still almost 600,000 tonnes of waste produced each year, around 60 per cent of which ends up in landfill sites. Most of Hertfordshire’s landfill contracts run out by the end of 2010 and there is a lack of suitable space to create further sites in the county. In addition, the government and the European Union have introduced new laws that mean county councils, as Waste Disposal Authorities, will face stiff financial penalties if they do not find alternatives to landfill.
A strategy setting out how waste will be dealt with over the coming years was published in 2007 – after extensive public consultation – by the Hertfordshire Waste Partnership, a coalition between the county and ten district councils. At the heart of the strategy are the principles of the three Rs – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. The partnership is committed to increasing recycling and composting levels of household waste to at least 50 per cent by 2012.
But even recycling 50 per cent, there will still be a large amount of waste that needs to be disposed of - and we can’t continue to send it to landfill at current rates.
The Hertfordshire Waste Procurement Programme has been established to take forward the Procurement of a waste treatment solution by March 2011. To provide capacity to enable the Council to achieve self-sufficiency in landfill allowances and move away from reliance on landfill for waste that cannot be reasonably re-used or recycled. This is a complex procurement starting with OJEU on 9 April 2009. To keep in touch with progress on the project look at Waste Procurement Information and other useful information by following the link below:
User Notes - Open Vault Box (PDF 496Kb)
User Notes - Restricted Vault Box (PDF 439Kb)
Procurement Process with Vault