Stadler Engineering has said that recommendations for banning certain materials from landfill isn’t a practical solution.
Responding to the 2020C Sweating Our Assets report led by Conservative MP Laura Sandys, Stadler Engineering UK sales manager Trevor Smart said other options should be considered.
He said: “The idea of banning landfill is an attractive one and one which has been implemented overseas.
“However, in countries such as Germany where the ban exists and they compost and recycle as much as possible, what to do with the organic waste recovered after recycling still remains an issue.
“In some cases, it is treated by anaerobic digestion and composting, or even sent to energy from waste plants. But irrespective of this, there is always some residue. This goes to landfill for final disposal.
“If we followed the German route there would be two major issues. First, due to animal by-product regulations, the final use for the organic waste recovered from commingled waste is limited to brownfield site restoration, and the market for this use is small. Second, existing PFI funded MRFs often have a valid 25-year waste contract and this leaves little opportunity to change the way waste is collected and treated.
“Banning landfill is like zero waste or 100 per cent emploment policies – a nice idea but not in my lifetime. Instead of making people think landfill is dead, we should be focused on solutions that generate maximum value from all our waste, increasing reprocessing and positive financial returns. In other words, a current system upgrade.”
