The Environment Agency (EA) has today (5 August) temporarily suspended all waste deliveries to a mechanical biological treatment (MBT) waste treatment facility in Barrow, Cumbria.
Shanks Waste Management Ltd (Shanks), was issued with a formal regulatory notice by the EA last week (1 August), following a number of site inspections at the Sowerby MBT which found there to be an ‘unacceptable’ number of flies in the area.
The EA had reportedly served the company with a Regulation 36 Notice (regarding environmental assessments) on 14 June, outlining that Shanks had not taken sufficient measures to prevent or minimise the presence of flies on site. According to the EA, this notice had ‘not been fully complied with’, and the body has now issued Shanks with a further Enforcement Notice while it decides what its response to the ‘non-compliance’ will be.
Under the notice, Shanks are required to clear the facility of waste by 19 August, wash and/or disinfect the plant to prevent the ‘breeding and release’ of flies by 24 August, and to implement an improvement plan to tackle the concerns highlighted by inspectors by 30 August, before the EA will consider reopening the MBT facility.
In a statement issued today, the waste management company said: “Shanks is taking this matter very seriously. We are working hard to rectify the situation as soon as possible and to ensure that the issues do not recur.”
£700 million waste contract
The facility at Southern Resource Park was officially opened in March 2013, as part of a 25-year, £700 million waste management contract between Shanks and Cumbria County Council, agreed in 2009.
Under the contract, Shanks processes around 200,000 tonnes of household waste each year by separating the recyclables from the residual waste (which are then sent for processing) before the remaining waste is anaerobically digested for a period of between 12 and 15 days. This waste is then screened to recover organic fines and metals, after which the remaining waste is sent to landfill.
In addition, the process also produces Solid Recoverable Fuel (SRF) that can be burned to provide an alternative source of energy to traditional fossil fuels.
‘Essential’ that problems are ‘nipped in the bud’
The Barrow site was opened in addition to the identical Northern Resource MBT plant in Hespin Wood, Carlisle, also run by Shanks, which opened in December 2011. Together, the two plants form the principle waste treatment facilities of the 25-year contract and hope to divert ‘around 85 per cent of the waste processed from landfill’ and save the council ‘millions of pounds in landfill tax’.
However, while Shanks addresses the fly issues, household waste from Barrow and South Lakeland that would otherwise be treated at the Barrow MBT will be diverted to a neighbouring landfill at a cost of £72 per tonne. The council and Shanks will cover this additional cost, though it is expected that Shanks will bear the majority of it.
Meanwhile, the Hespin Wood MBT plant in Carlisle will remain fully operational.
Speaking about the suspension, Cumbria County Council’s Environmental Cabinet Member, Clare Feeney-Johnson, said: “I fully support the decision by the Environment Agency to temporarily suspend waste deliveries to allow Shanks to concentrate on an improvement plan to tackle the concerns raised. We have a contract with Shanks to run this plant for the next 21 years, and therefore it is essential that any problems are nipped in the bud in the early days of the plant’s operations so that it doesn’t have a negative impact on surrounding businesses in the longer term.
“The principle underpinning mechanical biological treatment is a sound one and the other MBT plant run by Shanks in Hespin Wood, Carlisle is running at full capacity. I believe MBT is the cleanest, greenest treatment option for household waste as not only does it divert waste from landfill, but it also recovers recyclable material and produces a residual fuel. Therefore I fully expect the concerns raised about the Barrow facility to be a short-term issue, which can be addressed with the right operational measures from Shanks.”
Feeney-Johnson added that the council and the EA will be “seeking assurances from Shanks that the necessary steps have been taken to ensure that this situation does not arise again in future.”
Read more about the Barrow MBT.
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