Browse Sections
Interactive
Popular Sections
Spotty showersNews
| 
Submit Comments
Streetscene corporate manager Paul Morgan at the tip
advertisement
Tip full in 12 months
Ben Turner19/ 3/2008
THE CLOCK is ticking on a major rubbish crisis in Macclesfield.
The borough’s only council landfill site is on the verge of overflowing – with as little as 12 months before it reaches capacity.
And even at this late stage, a long-term alternative – which could include incinerators – is not yet in place, the Express has learnt.
From 2010 the plan is to turn the Congleton Road site into a transfer station to compress waste before transporting it to landfills in Crewe.
But the planning application is yet to be considered.
Cheshire County Council, which owns the landfill, is currently negotiating a new £1 billion refuse deal, and is considering incinerators to burn non-recyclable Macclesfield waste in the future.
But waste bosses say a site within the borough is unlikely at this stage.
Labour leader, Councillor Richard Watson, said: "We have to take action very quickly to actually avoid having a crisis.
"The current situation is certainly very serious. They will have to use other sites (when Danes Moss fills)."
"If rubbish is taken further afield you are talking about big transportation costs and other authorities will charge you."
Danes Moss – the borough‘s main landfill since 1908 – is operated by private firm Waste Recycling Group and, at more than 90 per cent capacity, could fill in as little as 12 months.
MBC is facing fierce criticism for acting too slowly and failing to reduce Danes Moss tonnage by introducing roadside plastics collection.
Last year, 36,000 tonnes of rubbish were dumped on the trash mountain – more than half of the total waste collected by MBC – with the remaining 30,000 composted or recycled.
Tytherington Coun James Nicholas called the situation "crazy".
"We are miles behind (in recycling); we’re languishing near the bottom for the whole country," he said.
"MBC was apparently looking at recycling plastic four years ago but has still done nothing."
Close to 4,000 tonnes of plastic is dumped at Danes Moss each year according to Coun Nicholas, because Macclesfield – unlike neighbouring Congleton or Crewe and Nantwich – has no arrangement to collect and process it.
Liberal Democrat deputy leader Councillor Ainsley Arnold said he believed the failure to recycle plastic had contributed to the "premature closure" of Danes Moss.
Tytherington colleague, Coun Brendan Murphy, said: "It has been known for some time that Dane Moss is filling up and I am astonished that it is so late in the day that the Cabinet has suddenly realised that something needs to be done."
Paul Morgan, Corporate Manager at Streetscene, which runs MBC waste management, said incinerators were being considered as a way of disposing of Macclesfield waste in the future.
"The public produces 35,000 tonnes of non-recyclable rubbish in wheelie bins every year," he said.
"That is what we pick up. At the moment that goes to Dane Moss which has 12 to 18 months left in it.
"MBC has signed up to the Cheshire Household Waste Management Strategy, which has a commitment to finding alternative methods of disposing of waste, which could include incineration.
"The amount of landfilling has been gradually going down. But plastic is a very costly material to recycle because of its volume and much of it cannot be processed."
A Cheshire County Council spokeswoman said: "The situation at present is that there is planning permission for landfill to continue at Danes Moss until December 2009.
"Waste Recycling Group (WRG) have applied for planning permission to establish a waste transfer station on the site once landfill ceases."
Council leader, Wesley Fitzgerald, told colleagues: "There is a growing cry from conscientious recyclers among our residents.
"They want to separate plastics from the black plastic bin and we are not giving them that service.
"There are I believe 34 different plastics and some of them are pernicious in the way they are processed."
It was important that residents knew which plastics could and could not be recycled, he said.
Gawsworth Councillor Jane Palmer, portfolio holder for customer services, said: "If everybody ceased to buy water in plastic bottles then that would be a huge difference."
Poynton Councillor Roger West, portfolio holder for Streetscene, said: "We don’t want to rush into (plastic) collection that Cheshire East (the new authority next year) does not stick with, rather than waiting until the changes are sorted out."
He confirmed that incinerators were being considered for some waste.
"We don’t want them (incinerators) all around Cheshire East but we are working towards bringing them in."
Most recent 1 of 1 user comments
Got an opinion you want to share?Motorists - are rising fuel prices tempting you to use public transport more?
Poll has now ended
| Card | Typical APR |
| Virgin Credit Card | 15.9% |
| Egg Card | 16.9% |
| Barclaycard Platinum | 14.9% |
| Barclaycard OnePulse For London | 14.9% |
| Capital One BT Exclusive | 13.9% |
| Company | Typical APR |
| FirstPlus Exclusive Rate | 6.6% |
| Moneyback Bank | 7.2% |
| Alliance & Leicester | 7.7% |
| Halifax (Semi-exclusive) | 7.8% |
| Bank of Scotland (Semi-exclusive) | 7.8% |
| Barclays | 7.9% |
| Provider | AER* |
|
ICESAVE Easy Access ISA |
6.10% |
|
ALLIANCE & LEICESTER Direct ISA Issue 4 |
6.00% |
|
YORKSHIRE BS e-ISA |
5.55% |
You can place a wide range of recyclables into your bin including paper, cardboard and coloured plastic bottles.
http://www.casey.vic.gov.au/recycling/article.asp?Item=2013
There is money in waste and this is not a big financial burden if handled well
21/03/2008 at 00:47