Consultation starts on potential sites for residual waste disposal

Residents, businesses and other interested parties in Rochdale are being asked for their views and comments on where residual waste disposal facilities should be located.

A consultation process on possible locations, and the policies needed to make sure the facilities are cleaner, greener and safer, started earlier this month.

The consultation, organised by the 10 councils comprising the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities (AGMA), continues until Friday 1 May.

Despite increasing levels of recycling and energy recovery and the need for the delivery of these facilities, which was considered during the last consultation on built facilities, there will always be some residual waste left over following these processes. It is this limited amount of residual waste that will need to be sent to landfill, landraise or used for land restoration.

The Greater Manchester and Wigan Waste Disposal Authorities have already developed Municipal Waste Management Strategies to manage household waste. However, this waste only accounts for about 25% of total waste, with much larger quantities of commercial, industrial, construction and demolition waste produced daily within Greater Manchester.

Greater Manchester councils are working together to produce a 'Joint Waste Development Plan Document' (JWDPD) detailing planning policies for managing waste, identifying potential sites for waste facilities, including residual waste disposal, and providing policies to determine planning applications. The document will help identify and deliver the facilities that may be required to manage the county's waste.

The plan responds to government targets and waste legislation which means there's an urgent need to provide facilities to enable communities and businesses to reduce, reuse, and recover more of their waste. Residual waste disposal is looked to as the last option, but one which must be adequately catered for.

Councillor Derek Antrobus, Chair of the Greater Manchester Joint Waste Development Plan Document Joint Committee, said:

"This plan aims to ensure that planning authorities have policies in place to ensure we can cope with future waste in the greenest, safest and cleanest way possible. The plan places more emphasis on reduction, reuse, recycling and recovery, although there will be some residual waste remaining. It is this waste that will be sent to landfill, landraise or used for land restoration."

"Greater Manchester is a vibrant conurbation with a population of over two million. We all need to ensure we can manage the waste we produce in as sustainable a way as possible, and this means all Greater Manchester councils need to work together.

"Planning for residual waste disposal facilities gives us a real opportunity to influence how residual waste could be transported, or how sites could be restored to beneficial after uses such as recreation.”

"If any resident or business has views on where residual waste disposal facilities should go, how they should be designed, and how waste should be transported to these sites, this is their chance.”

The document is now available at www.gmwastedpd.co.uk. Alternatively, to see a hard copy, please visit your local main library.

For more information, phone 0161 779 6182, email: planningteam@gmwastedpd.co.uk or visit www.gmwastedpd.co.uk