Truce possible in Southern C A site green waste battle

The Manx Herald was recently contacted by several concerned south side residents who claimed to have been reliably informed that the composting of green waste at the Southern C A site was due to cease at the end of August.

The Manx Herald spoke to Amanda Butler, Clerk to the Southern C A Site Board. Ms Butler informed us that the Department of Local Government and the Environment had originally notified the Board during March that they intended to cease the contract at the end of that month but, following negotiations with the Board, had agreed to continue funding the scheme until the 31^st August; which is the end of this week.

Ms Butler explained that due to the inadequate notice given that the contract, and central government funding, would cease this year, the C A Site Board had not made any provision to fund the continuation of the scheme in this financial year. Although the site has its own digger, for turning the waste, much of the delivered material has to be shredded first.

Apparently the current contractor uses their own shredding and sieving machinery; thus there will be a cost involved in making alternative arrangements. Furthermore, even if the waste could be sent to Ballaneven for composting, they charge more than the incinerator and also require the waste to be shredded - so the waste would possibly have to go via Douglas – which would add even more to the potential costs.

Therefore, Ms Butler said it was with reluctance that the waste would probably be sent to the incinerator for disposal; the least expensive alternative disposal route. {Editor’s note: even SITA require waste to be below a certain size to be considered ‘conforming’ waste so certain types of green waste still need to be shredded before delivery.}

Ms Butler said that the Board would prefer to continue to compost the waste but, if the funding was being transferred to the ratepayers, it would have to be considered in the future during the rate setting process. Perhaps in the longer term a return to composting on site would be possible.

The Manx Herald then contacted Yvette Mellor, head of Corporate Services at the DOLGE, to see if she could explain the Department’s decision.

Mrs Mellor said that the ceasing of the contract had been on the cards for some time, as there was no longer a need for the material on the adjacent site that was being restored; and no other market for the material had been developed. Therefore, the not inconsiderable budget of £95,000 was to be used to help fund the even more considerable costs of disposing of waste electrical equipment; estimated to be in the region of £250,000 this year.

Mrs Mellor said she wished to make it clear that the Department had already agreed to assist the Board by, firstly, removing the site rental liability so they would be on an equal footing with other C A sites. Secondly, the Department had offered to pay the Board the £10 per tonne difference between the costs of sending the waste to the Energy from Waste plant and to Ballaneven for composting. However, the Department understood that the Board did not wish to transport the waste to Ballaneven.

A follow up call was made to the Southern C A Site to inquire why the latter offer from the DOLGE wasn’t been pursued by the Board as this, to the Manx Herald, seemed like a reasonable, if only temporary, compromise.

Ms Butler expressed surprise and said she was not aware of the offer having ever been made.

Following contact between Ms Butler and Mrs Mellor it turns out the offer had never been formally made to the Board, as the Department had thought the Board had dismissed the notion of sending the waste to Ballaneven. It is believed that this offer will be discussed at a meeting which was already planned for tomorrow (Thursday).

The Manx Herald considers that it is unfortunate that such a misunderstanding arose due to what appears to be a simple failure to communicate. Hopefully, this timely intervention will allow the two parties sufficient time to sit down and reach an agreeable resolution.

Footnote:

The DOLGE’s Waste Management Plan, September 2000, included a section that during the plan period 2000-2005 that stated: “…it is anticipated that a green waste composting initiative would …… be based at the Southern C A Site….”

(Half a million pounds was allocated in the budget for building the Southern C A site, including the concrete slab for the windrow composting scheme – which some cynics remarked was a lot of money just for some concrete.)

It was envisaged that a review of the plan would take place in 2005 and, as part of that review, consideration would be given to the most appropriate location for the green waste composting operation for the rest of the period (2005-2020) or as a minimum up to the second stage review (2010).

It was also recognised, within the plan, that following the commissioning of the incinerator it may be beneficial, to the efficient operation of the plant, to remove certain elements of putrescible waste from the waste stream and divert it to a central composting scheme.

The plan suggests that this would be done during the 5 yearly plan review in 2005. The Manx Herald is led to believe that this detailed level of review did not in fact take place.

Muriel Garland, Chair of, recycling Charity, Zero Waste Mann commented: “Composting comes above burning in the international waste hierarchy and is always preferable. Our organisation views waste materials as resources to be re-used and recycled. Organic waste should be used to improve the soil of the island which is not over-rich in nutrients.”