Summary of BAN Waste’s History

BAN Waste is a community group that has worked with Newcastle City Council on a number of projects during the last 6 years to:

• Consult with members of the public about the city’s waste strategy;
• Identify a sustainable waste strategy for the city; and
• Promote re-use, recycling and composting.

The group’s work has been highly acclaimed both nationally and internationally. In November 2003 BAN Waste won the World Wildlife Funds’ media award for Best Environmental jointly with the Campaign Against the Incineration of Refuse (CAIR), also from Newcastle. Later that year, the Guardian newspaper chose BAN Waste as the Best Local Campaign of the Year.

The group was set up in February 2000 by Newcastle Council in response to a huge public outcry over plans to double the size of a controversial waste incinerator in Byker. (For more information on the history of the resident’s campaign before BAN Waste was set up, click here.)

At that time, the Council was planning to:

• Burn almost all of the city’s waste;
• Import waste from other local authorities to burn and
• Landfill the ash and hazardous waste.

The membership of the group was initially made up of local Byker residents, Byker Councillors and City Officers but the group aspired to become city-wide and was set up with the aim of addressing a wide range of waste issues raised at a public meeting held in January 2000 – hence its name.

Initially, the Council made repeated attempts to re-assure residents of the safety of the proposed incinerator. But a scandal was brewing that was about to blow the myth of safe waste incineration sky high!

An allotment holder had noticed pieces of burnt plastic in ash used on the paths of her allotment site. Despite re-assurances from the Council that the ash was inert, one local resident persuaded Newcastle University and Newcastle Health Authority to undertake tests on the ash.

A steering group, which included members of BAN Waste, was set up in February 2000 to identify methods of assessment, safety thresholds, assess the test results and make recommendations.

The results of the initial test results proved shocking. A safety threshold of 5 nanograms per kilogram of Dioxin (a cancer causing chemical) had been set but subsequent test results revealed Dioxin levels in the ash as high as 9,500 ng/kg. Further tests and studies were commissioned. The reports that followed and the associated controversies that erupted were to hound the Council, the Environment Agency, the Health Authority, Defra and the CHP Ltd (the incinerator operators) over the next 2 1/2 years.

The incinerator was shut down pending a full investigation and was found to be responsible for one of the largest toxic ash releases of present times. Newcastle Council and CHP Ltd were subsequently taken to court and fined £35,000.

The closure of the ‘community energy from waste’ heating system forced the Council to replace the incinerator with a community gas boiler system resulting in a 14% reduction in the heating bills of Byker residents.

(For copies of the reports produced by Newcastle University click here. For copies of the reports commissioned by BAN Waste to examine the quality of those reports, click here. For further details about the story of the incinerator ash paths and the Steering Group click here.)

In the meantime, BAN Waste members were working hard to raise the target of over £100,000 to set up a pioneering project to consult with the public about the long-term waste strategy for the city. The democratic model that was used, operated in the style of the Select Committee system used in the House of Commons. (For more information on the Select Committee Model used by BAN Waste click here.) The system was designed to look for positive solutions to the city’s waste problems with the Group investigating all the concerns about public health, safety, protecting the environment and costs raised by Byker residents who had attended the initial meeting in 2000.

Following 3 years of intensive work, the “Select Committee” of residents, Councillors, Officers, business people, community representatives, environmentalists and trade unionists presented their forth and final report to the Environment Cabinet in Newcastle City Council. (To see copies of the full reports and summary reports please click here.)

At the time that BAN Waste’s final report was published, Council Officers were recommending a long-term strategy that focussed on:

• Recycling some separated materials;
• Producing a small amount of compost from the green waste collected from parks and some civic amenity sites;
• Attempting to remove the organic fractions from the crushed, contaminated, mixed waste and producing ‘grey’ compost;
• Incinerating and land-filling the remaining mixed waste.

BAN Waste’s final report, called “Too Good to Waste”, recommended 2 major policy changes:

• A radical shift from waste disposal to recycling and resource recovery policies;
• A move away from a reliance on technology fixes to community based recycling and composting initiatives.

The report suggested that the key to the development of a successful recycling industry is the kerbside collection of separated materials. It identified 5 collection services in need of major investment:

• Household collections of paper, plastics, glass, cans, tins and textiles;
• Household collections of separate hazardous materials such as paint, solvents and batteries;
• Household collections of separated food and garden materials for composting;
• Well designed, easily accessible recycling banks and centres;
• Free collection of bulky materials for re-use and recycling.

The report was presented to the Council in November 2003 and resulted in the Council agreeing:

• Not to proceed with an energy from waste or combustion plant based in Byker as previously proposed or at any location in the city;
• The redevelopment of the Byker plant for bio-mechanical separation of waste as a Waste Transfer Station;
• The Council’s current proposal to meet statutory targets and to move towards greater recycling and towards waste being regarded as a resource;
• Officers continue to examine alternative technologies to provide heat and power from the city’s waste at Byker with periodic updates being made to the Environment Select Committee and final approvals being made by Cabinet;
• The Council’s waste strategy being amended in line with the recommendations set out above and BAN Waste continue to be consulted in the process of amendment and the full revised strategy to be presented to a future meeting of the Cabinet.
• Noting the financial position in the … report to be considered further in the Council’s budget decisions.

The publicity surrounding the announcement of this new policy stated clearly that there was to be “no more incineration anywhere in Newcastle”

Since that time, the Council has introduced a major kerbside recycling service to 103,000 households and piloted a range of recycling and composting systems, including:

• Piloting kerbside green waste collections;
• Piloting weekly kerbside recycling box collections;
• Piloting collections of cardboard;
• Increasing the items collected for recycling to include: plastic bottles, glass bottles, cans, paper, textiles and batteries;
• Improving two civic amenity sites;
• Expanding the provision of recycling facilities to half of the apartment complexes in the city; and
• Raising awareness about waste issues with school children through the Tidy Schools initiative.

Much to the delight of local residents and members of BAN Waste, Byker Incinerator chimney was demolished in December 2004 (see photo here).

However, the joy did not last long! Later that month, the Council disclosed to BAN Waste that it had already applied to Defra for funding to build an experimental pyrolysis/ gasification plant on the very site where the chimney had once stood. Despite the resolution to consult, no attempt had been made in advance of the application to discuss or consult with BAN Waste or the wider community. BAN Waste immediately set to work to gain sight of the funding application. They discovered that the application claimed to have consulted with the community. In fact, no such consultation had taken place and even local councillors had not been made aware of the proposals.

Pyrolysis/gasification is a thermal treatment to produce a gas that can be burnt, and under European law and UK planning law such a plant is defined as incineration. BAN Waste members saw these proposals as reneging on the Council’s declaration that there would be no more incineration and the promise to consult.

In February 2005, BAN Waste representatives were invited to a presentation by Newcastle Council and Newcastle University. The presentation was to introduce BAN Waste members to the supposed benefits of burning the city’s waste in the proposed new pyrolysis/gasification plant. Members of BAN Waste were advised that Defra had indicated to the Council that the application was likely to be successful and that building work would begin immediately formal approval had been received.

Perhaps the Council had forgotten the lobbying skills of the members of BAN Waste! Within days of BAN Waste members sending out a series of hard-hitting letters, Defra announced, at the end of February, that Newcastle’s funding application had been rejected.

Over the last two years BAN Waste activists have endeavoured to put into practice what they preach.

BAN Waste members have undertaken further consultation work to identify practical ways of recycling and composting waste in the low and medium rise flats in the city that are currently not serviced by any scheme. (Click here for a copy of the report.)

In July, Newcastle Council and BAN Waste joined forces to set up a comprehensive system of recycling; awareness raising and consultation at the Tall Ships Race which was attended by over half a million people. This was the first time that Newcastle Council has recycled at a major outdoor event and it proved extremely popular and successful (see photos here).

Currently, BAN Waste is working with the City Council on 3 projects.

1. In December, BAN Waste launched a recycling incentive scheme to encourage Newcastle residents to use their black box recycling service. (For more details about the scheme click here.)
   
2. 2006 will, hopefully, see the introduction of a new, innovative recycling and composting scheme designed specifically to meet the particular needs of residents living in low to medium rise flats across the city.
   
3. BAN Waste is also working with the Council on the final consultation process to identify the long term waste strategy for the city. This project is still evolving but promises to be an innovative mix of awareness raising, education, debate and consultation. We will keep you informed!