Epping Forest District Council is to continue collecting recyclables from householders in a twin-stream, co-mingled service, after waste management company Biffa found that separate collections woud not be TEEP (technically, environmentally and economically practicable).

According to the UK’s transposition of the EU’s revised Waste Framework Directive (the Waste Regulations (Amendment) 2012), by 2015, every waste collection authority in England and Wales must have in place separate collections for waste paper, metal, plastic and glass when they are necessary to ‘facilitate or improve recovery’ and are TEEP.

Despite Defra saying that it “did not believe” there was “a need to issue further guidance” on the practicalities of deciding TEEP, the government-funded Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) recently launched a non-statutory ‘route map’ for local authorities to help assess compliance with the regulations, and the Welsh Government recently consulted on its draft guidance on separate collections.

Collection system details

Biffa reportedly undertook its own TEEP test to assess the council’s recycling system (currently carried out by SITA UK), following a successful tender for Epping Forest’s 10-year recycling, refuse and street cleansing contract.

The contract, which is said to be worth £50 million over its lifespan, was reportedly awarded to Biffa in the hopes of boosting the council’s recycling rates (which came in at 58.8 per cent in 2012/13) ‘as Biffa has a strong record of helping local authorities to expand recycling significantly’.

Epping Forest District Council currently runs twin stream recycling collections, consisting of co-mingled paper, card, metal cans and plastic containers collected in sacks, while glass is collected in boxes.

Although details on the methodology have not been revealed, Biffa’s TEEP assessment proposed that this collection arrangement should be continued, with both streams being collected in a one-pass operation every fortnight.

These materials will be sent to Biffa’s advanced materials recycling facility (MRF) in Edmonton, north London. However, the separately-collected glass will not go through the MRF, but instead be bulked-up before being sent on to Biffa's reprocessors.

Residual waste in wheeled bins will be collected on a fortnightly basis, and Biffa will deliver it to Essex County Council’s transfer station at Harlow for landfilling at Roxwell, near Chelmsford. However, it will later be sent to the mechanical and biological treatment (MBT) plant being built by Essex County Council in Basildon.

From November, mixed organic waste (garden and food) will be delivered to a transfer station near Ongar and then be transported to an in-vessel composting facility in Bedfordshire.

The 100-plus staff currently employed by SITA UK and related sub-contractor Lucy and Martin will transfer to Biffa under Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) (TUPE) regulations prior to contract start in November 2014.

‘An innovative, improved and more responsive service’

Councillor Will Breare-Hall, Epping Forest District Council’s Portfolio Holder for Environment, said: “This deal is great news for Epping Forest residents and our district. Our new contract with Biffa promises residents an innovative, improved and more responsive service that respects what they like best about our current provision, and helps us keep their council tax low.

“It is essential we keep striving to improve. This new partnership with Biffa offers even better services to residents, reductions in environmental impact, and helps us to maintain our record as one of the UK’s top recycling authorities.”

Qasim Durrani, Assistant Technical Director at Epping Forest District Council, said that Biffa’s appointment followed a hard-fought tender process. He added: “Biffa played a full and constructive role in our competitive dialogue process, helping to shape the service and contract along the way.

“We are confident, with its track record and the people we have dealt with so far, that Biffa will deliver both excellent service levels and a forward-thinking partnership for the next 10 years.”

Find out more about TEEP.