London Wider Waste Strategy - London - Greater London Authority

some construction companies had their own waste transfer stations and crushing
facilities in East London which was more economic than disposal.
4.78. With regard to London’s incinerators, the Edmonton incineration plant has a total
capacity of 500,000 tonnes per annum, while the SELCHP plant capacity is slightly
higher at approximately 510-520,000 tonnes. The waste entering the Edmonton
incinerator is all municipal waste, including some C&I wastes collected as part of the
municipal waste stream. Only specific types of C&I wastes are accepted for incineration;
these are generally wastes that are essentially similar to household wastes, such as
foodstuffs and paper. LondonWaste has to examine each waste stream entering the
plant to ensure that there is the correct mixture of waste for incineration.
4.79. The incineration operation generates ‘bottom ash’ which consists of an ash and scrap
metals. The ash is reprocessed into secondary aggregate which LondonWaste then sell,
and the scrap metals (both ferrous and non-ferrous) are recycled by a third party. An air
pollution control (APC) residue is also produced. This is essentially a lime solution
which is sold to companies who then use it to neutralize industrial acids and in the
process produce filter cake. As a result of these recovery operations, only a tiny fraction
of the incineration residues are sent to landfill.
Barriers and Opportunities
4.80. All of the companies contacted believe that the main barriers to recycling and innovative
treatments at present are financial and/or the lack of stable markets, and the following
comments were made. The recycling markets and the markets for some recyclates tend
to be volatile and vulnerable to change. There are few stable markets and there is,
therefore, a general reluctance to invest in the recycling/processing industry. In
addition, there needs to be a public acceptance of a need to be more sustainable.
Unfortunately, at present, recycled products have a reputation of being of a poorer
quality than those that use virgin materials. Therefore, unless the image and
performance of recycled products is improved this is likely to continue to be the case.
4.81. A number of the consultees believed that the manufacturers of consumer products had
the greatest opportunity for waste prevention in the first instance. Packaging is
thought to be the main opportunity for waste minimisation, but care has to be taken to
ensure that issues such as hygiene and freshness are not compromised. Investment in
how the public views waste and how they buy goods is required. One consultee also
thought that greater investment should be made to educate the public in waste
minimisation and recycling issues.
Recommendation 4: It is recommended that greater use is made of advertising and
other public awareness-raising techniques to reinforce the need for
sustainable waste management practices in relation to packaging and the use
of recycled materials.
4.82. Some consultees commented that legislation is a significant driver at present, with the
Packaging Directive and the Aggregates Tax (for C&D wastes) noted as most likely to
have the biggest impact on non-household wastes.
4.83. The majority of the consultees predicted that the amounts of waste being landfilled
would be reduced as the landfill tax starts to rise at a rate of £3 per tonne/annum, from
2006. This would result in recycling becoming more economically viable for commercial
and industrial businesses.
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