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| Recycled waste travels from
your bin to China – and back |
Call for ‘environmental audit’
as paper trail goes around London to Far East
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Lib Dems John Bryant, Flick Rea and Keith Moffitt investigate
the Grosvenor Waste Centre
Sian Berry
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WASTE from Camden’s homes is being shipped across the world
to be recycled in China – rather than being processed at plants
in this country, the Town Hall confirmed this week.
Labour councillors were asked on Monday to review recycling procedures
in the borough and, significantly, the performance of contractors
Grosvenor Waste Management, currently under investigation by government
watchdog the Environment Agency.
Inquiries by the New Journal have revealed a complicated paper trail
of companies who ferry Camden’s waste around London, and then
the world.
Onyx are paid £16 million a year by Camden to collect rubbish
from the borough’s streets and doorsteps, including recycling.
They ferry the recyclable waste to plants in Brent or Islington.
Londonwaste then takeover, receiving £5.9 million last year
to coordinate the waste and recycling strategy. They subcontract
some of that work to Grosvenor Waste Management.
Grosvenor then recycle their share of the waste at Crayford in Kent,
or ship it abroad.
To further complicate matters Londonwaste is an umbrella company
run by seven north London boroughs, including Camden, collectively
known as the North London Waste Authority. It runs an incinerator
at Edmonton which currently burns waste, although there are plans
to turn it into a recycling centre.
Liberal Democrats have already visited Grosvenor’s Kent headquarters
as part of their own probe.
They believe that Camden is spending too much money on waste contractors
and actually harming the environment by shipping waste thousands
of miles by sea.
They are also investigating a council “co-mingling” trial
scheme in West Hampstead and Kilburn which has seen residents diligently
sorting out tins, bottles and paper on the doorstep – only
for the load to be mixed together in a collection truck, taken away
and, bizarrely, separated out again in Crayford. Camden says the
mixing method has increased the amount of waste recycled and could
be introduced to other parts of the borough.
Although some of Camden’s waste has been shipped abroad for
several years, most residents appear to be unaware their rubbish
is not all being recycled in this country.
Instead, “co-mingled” plastic bottles, tins and newspapers
finish up with Far East companies. Manufactured goods from the sorted-out
waste are often sold back to England.
Meanwhile, Labour environment chief Councillor John Thane said there
was no evidence that Grosvenor was dumping Camden waste – meant
for recycling – in landfills sites in China.
His response follows claims in a recent BBC documentary that waste
collected from neighbouring Islington had been found dumped in Indonesia.
The allegations are still under investigation.
Cllr Thane said: “We would reassure residents that waste separated
for recycling and collected by Camden Council is not sent to landfill
either in the UK or abroad.”
He said that he was happy for waste to be recycled abroad –
as long as it was not dumped in landfills.
Cllr Thane said: “The truth is there isn’t a manufacturing
industry in this country like there is in China. Even if we had
the resources to recycle everything here, there wouldn’t be
a demand for the goods.
“Shipping is probably the most environmentally friendly way
of transporting waste.”
His comments have left Green Party members and Liberal Democrats
unimpressed.
Liberal Democrats John Bryant, Flick Rea and group leader Keith
Moffitt made the trip to Crayford two months ago where they met
directors from Grosvenor, whose annual turnover is thought to be
around £25 million a year. Cllr Rea said: “Everything
seems so intensive in energy terms. The waste trundles around London
and then is sent to Kent and then abroad. There must be a better
way of doing it. Camden cares about meeting government targets for
recycling but I’m not sure they really know where it goes after
it leaves the borough.”
Cllr Bryant added: “We need the council to have a full environmental
audit of the energy and money it costs to send recycling across
the world. Camden should be investigating this.”
Green Party member Sian Berry warned that shipping waste would in
itself harm the environment. She added: “The answer is more
recycling in this country.
“It is not good enough to simply say we don’t have the
resources to do it in this country. We also want Camden to investigate
to make sure none of the borough’s recyclable waste is being
dumped in landfills in China. They should be asking Grosvenor about
it rather than waiting to see if any evidence comes up.”
Londonwaste chairman Brian Haley said that a lack of resources meant
it was “impossible” to monitor what happens to waste when
it left UK ports. He added: “It would cost a fortune and it
would mean a team travelling around the world all the time. We rely
on the Environment Agency to set the standards and issue the licences.
“If the EA issued penalties against a company then we might
consider looking elsewhere.”
But Mr Haley added: “The future will mean more locally based
recycling. We are looking at the Edmonton incinerator site with
a view to turning it into a recycling park in 2007.”
A spokesman for Grosvenor Waste said that the company was considering
legal action following the allegations in the BBC documentary Real
Story.
He added: “We categorically deny allegations that recyclable
material was or has been exposed for disposal to landfill.” |
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