London Wider Waste Strategy - London - Greater London Authority

handling and transport in London, rather than the collection service that they operate
elsewhere in the UK.
4.51. The companies that responded to our consultations varied in their size of operations in
London from three persons to several thousand. In the majority of cases, the London
operations were part of a national organisation. Some companies are, of course, active
on an international scale. Some companies are independent, whilst others are part of a
wider group. LondonWaste has been formed as a joint venture with half of the
company owned by the North London Waste Authority and half owned by SITA UK.
Many of the companies own their own facilities, whilst others may lease. Some also
operate facilities on behalf of a local authority.
4.52. Most of the consultees had head offices or the control of their London operations
located outside of London, often at a waste disposal facility. However some, such as
LondonWaste and Thames Waste Management, were within London. A large number of
waste management facilities tend to be located on the outer periphery of the city. In
general most companies have transfer stations or MRF facility within the city for the
transfer and bulking up of waste, before it is transported out of the city for disposal or
treatment.
4.53. Most company collection services were focused on a particular industry or geographical
area(s) of London, although two did provide complete coverage of London. This
appears to be largely due to the location of their handling, treatment and disposal
facilities. It may also be due to company acquisition which has provided a focus in a
particular area.
4.54. All the waste management companies with whom we had detailed discussions operate
environmental management systems (EMS) or are in the process of developing them.
All were obtaining certification to ISO 14001 on a site by site basis, concentrating on
operational sites, rather than depots.
Waste Arisings
4.55. Only one company was able to provide a total tonnage for commercial and industrial
arisings from London, which was a relatively small figure compared to the overall
commercial and industrial waste stream in London. The main reason stated for not
supplying information was due to commercial confidentiality. Also, several companies
collect or receive mixed household and commercial wastes on behalf of boroughs and
hence do not specifically identify how much of it is from commercial premises.
4.56. In discussions regarding the large amount of commercial and industrial wastes described
as “general”, one consultee commented that the European Waste Catalogue may
potentially reduce the amount of compositional detail in the future as more waste could
be included in the ‘general’ category.
4.57. With the exception of two companies that did not provide a collection service, all
consultees collected both municipal and commercial and industrial wastes. However,
some companies largely focused on one or the other, whilst some did both.
4.58. It appears that in many cases, the waste management companies transport waste via
transfer stations. However, this again is dependent on the economics; if it is more
economic or efficient to deliver wastes directly to the treatment and disposal facilities,
then collection vehicles will do so. Due to a restricted number of transfer stations within
the City of London, there are a large number of refuse collection vehicles delivering
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