With the vast majority of household waste recycling centres closed, there is growing pressure for reopening to be considered.
The wood recycling sector has today (17 April) added its voice to calls for a plan for the reopening of sites, saying that it welcomed the latest guidance from Defra which encourages the re-opening of Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs) where safe to do so (see letsrecycle.com story). Wood recyclers have highlighted how supplies to biomass energy plants have been hit because of the site closures.
And, in the wake of ongoing reports of fly-tipping allegedly linked to the closure of the sites, national media are covering the topic of closed HWRCs. This morning, the BBC reports “fly-tipping rise prompts plant to reopen tips”. It states that MPs and senior councillors, such as Paul Bettison, leader of Bracknell Forest, said the authority was looking at the reopening of “tips” within government guidelines (see BBC article).
Wood recyclers say biomass supplies have been disrupted by the closure of HWRCs (library picture)
Range of views
Across the waste and recycling sector there are a range of views over the reopening of HWRC sites. Some local authority officers appear to feel that other services should be prioritised and that HWRCs are non-essential. However, within the last 24 hours, a number of recycling and waste businesses have told letsrecycle.com that they are bringing back staff after an initial furlough period so they would be available to work on the movement of waste and recyclables from HWRCs.
Others in the industry have emphasised the need to capture materials for recycling and that managing social distancing at the sites should be achievable. Comments include that the public can use them over a seven-day period, usage could be decided by ward or by car registration number and that some sites are on industrial estates where traffic is currently light and so queues would not be a problem.
Wood Recyclers Association
The chair of the Wood Recyclers Association, Andy Hill, said: “The re-opening of HWRCs is not something that can happen overnight for many valid reasons.
“However, we need to begin to plan an exit strategy to allow us to move out of this period as smoothly and effectively as possible when the time is right. To help with that we are asking the HWRC operators and local authorities to provide an indication of timescales for the re-opening of HWRCs in a safe and timely manner.
WRA chair Andy Hill has called for a high priority approach for HWRCs
“We are also going to be asking DEFRA to give HWRCs a high priority in its exit strategy, and to carefully consider the flow of waste wood so that we can get the sector back up and running again as soon possible after lockdown.”
The association says that waste wood market has been hit hard by the closure of HWRCs, as well as the temporary shutdown of many industries which feed wood into the market place, including construction.
And, the WRA said that a survey of its members last week found that:
- Wood Recyclers have seen an average of 80% drop in feedstock supply since the lockdown commenced, causing significant financial stress on all parts of the supply chain, including the processors and end consumers such as the biomass plants requiring fuel
- All panel board manufacturers have temporarily shut down. This is due to problems with the supply chain on both sides of their business (ie: raw materials and end product demand)
- Biomass members are facing the prospect of shutting down their plants for an interim period
- WRA Members have real concerns for the recycled wood supply next winter as the summer period is the time for building stocks for winter supply
- Wood recyclers surveyed were operating on a skeleton staff
- An average of 50-60% of staff across wood recyclers have been furloughed
- Grade C waste wood has been affected the most due to the closure of HWRCs
- Animal bedding is also a concern as raw material for this has dried up (grade A packaging wood)
The WRA is also asking that where some HWRC sites have remained open through the current lockdown, that best practice from these sites is shared with the other HWRC operators in order to enable the re-opening as soon as is practicably possible.
“Although over 90 per cent of HWRCs have been closed we know there are still some councils operating them. It would be good to understand how they are managing and what planning they have put in place to enable them to remain open,” added Mr Hill.
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Source: letsrecycle.com Waste Managment
