The Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) recorded a 5.1% drop in its recycling rate in the first quarter of the 2020/21 financial year (Apr-Jun 2020), compared with the same period in 2019.
The Authority’s waste and recycling committee will be asked to note a report next week, 14 October, which shows that its recycling rate has fallen from 52.9% in the first quarter of the 2019/20 financial year, to 47.8% this year.
The quarterly contract update assesses the performance of Manchester’s waste services and household waste and recycling centres since its two contracts with Suez, worth more than £1 billion, commenced in June 2019 (see letsrecycle.com story).
As outlined below, the data also shows that waste arisings are down, and diversion from landfill has increased. MRF contamination is also up to 21.2%.
The quarterly update to the committee highlights that the recycling rate has fallen, but diversion from landfill has increased
The GMCA contract with Suez involves the management of 1.1 million tonnes of municipal waste per year from over 1 million households
According to the report, the fall in recycling rate is down to covid-19 restrictions causing a “change to household waste stream levels” along with the staged reopening of HWRCs.
However, overall diversion from landfill rates “continue to progress in the right direction” with a 7% increase from last year at 97.7%.
Total waste arisings were 270, 834 tonnes for quarter 1, which the report said was “similar” to the same period last year, which saw arisings of 271,795 tonnes.
MRF contamination levels increased by 2% this year, reaching an overall figure of 21%. The report added that the amount of collected WCA loads rejected at the reception points was 2.6kt, which was described as a “significant increase”.
The report noted that in March, the committee was alerted to “substantial changes” for the mixed paper and card material stream. The report said: “This has caused increasingly stringent quality controls at reprocessor outlets, brought about by dramatically reduced material values and demand in the global market place. This position has continued and has been further exacerbated by the impact of covid-19.”
HWRCs
Combined recycling rates at HWRCs stand at 34% which is “comparable” to quarter 1 of last year, with overall diversion levels reaching almost 99%, which is over 14% higher than last year’s data for Q1.
The report includes data on how HWRCs have coped during the pandemic, which shows the total number of vehicle visits per month.
The data shows a “steady increase” in use as more sites reopened and more commodities were introduced.
Level of use began to slowly reduce which “may reflect a return to office working for some residents as schools have reopened.”
Visits to HWRCs exceeded pre-covid levels in June
Suez
The contracts with Suez, which are worth more that £1 billion, involve the management of 1.1 million tonnes of municipal waste per year and the operation of 41 facilities over 24 sites and 20 HWRCs.
The contract will run until 2024 initially, with an option to extend for a further three.
It involves the management of 1.1 million tonnes of municipal waste per year from over 1 million households across nine districts: Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside and Trafford.
In July, the Authority noted a report which showed that its recycling rate has risen from 45.38% in 2018/19 to 47.25% in the whole of 2019/20 (see letsrecycle.com story).
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Source: letsrecycle.com Waste Managment
