Agenda item

Considered – A report of the Service Waste Manager on the performance of the Allerton Waste Recovery Park for 2021-22.

Some of the key points highlighted in the report are as summarised below:

·       Allerton Waste Recovery Park has been operational since 1 March 2018 and consists of a Mechanical Treatment (MT) plant, an Anaerobic Digestor (AD) and Energy from Waste (EFW) facility to receive and treat residual waste.

·       The recycling/composting of Contract Waste was 1.04% in 2021-22 against a contractual target of 5%. For 2022-23, it is forecast to rise to circa 2.2%.

·       Mechanical issues with the MT equipment required the plant to be periodically run in ‘by-pass’ mode, which means recyclates are not extracted. Since maintenance works have been completed, MT performance has significantly improved, with Amey forecasting availability to be 73% this year, compared to 52% in 2021-22. Compositional analysis is also to take place.

·       It has been challenging to place plastics with a limited number of off-takers due to it being recovered from the residual waste stream, combined with current market volatility.

·       The amount of waste diverted from landfill improved significantly in 2021-22. A diversion rate of 89.4% was achieved in 2021-22, an increase of 8.46% against the previous contract year.

·       The availability of the EFW is an important factor affecting diversion from landfill. The EFW plant was available for more time (+6.5%) in 2021-22 compared to the previous year, which allowed more waste (+12.8%) to be processed. During the 9 months outside of the planned outages, the EFW plant achieved 93.9% availability. The reason for improved availability is due to far fewer unplanned outages arising from defects and operational failures. For example, Amey secured specialist advice from industry experts to trial and identify new refractory linings and fixings to improve longevity and negate the need for repairs prior to planned outages.

·       Allerton Waste Recovery Park welcomed 162 people for onsite tours and delivered virtual sessions to a further 269 members of the public. Amey also continued to develop their education resources and materials engaging with schools, community groups and the libraries service.

·       A number of outreach activities were undertaken over the year including the Great Big Green Week, Pumpkin-Fest and an NYCC COP26 workshop for schools.

·       Contract year 2021-22 is the best year to date for landfill diversion and EfW availability. Works undertaken in April 2022 at the MT plant have benefitted the recycling performance that will be reflected in the 2022-23 update report.

·       In 2022-23, further opportunities are being explored with the district and borough councils, Amey and Yorwaste seeking to optimise the types of waste delivered to the plant to secure continued performance improvements.

There followed a discussion with the key points as summarised below:

·       The 2021-22 recycling performance, missing the 5% contractual target by a long way, was highlighted as a concern. It was asked if waste going into the site could be streamed to improve performance levels.

·       The reliability of the electricity generated on-site and whether there is the opportunity to do more.

·       The ability for parish and town councils to book visits to Allerton Park, as education is needed to address misconceptions about the site.

·       An announcement from Government on introducing separate food collections is awaited, but in the meantime, work is going on to look at a number of different scenarios for how this could be accommodated.

·       Taking advantage of the great educational opportunities available through the facility and outreach work into schools (e.g Love Food, Hate Waste)

·       Whether energy storage is captured in the night time? It was noted that storing energy to be used at peak times is a developing area, with responsibility sitting with the contractor.

·       It was requested that a climate change implications report be included in future performance reports to the committee, with the level of detail required to be determined in discussions with the Chair.

·       It was asked if work is being undertaken on the development of future fuels such as hydrogen. It was explained that the EFW plant is looking into the possibilities of carbon capture and the technology available.

Resolved –

i.                To note the contents of this report

ii.              To request a further update on 2022-23 performance in 12 months time