Our first job for Newcastle City...

Newcastle City Council Cityworks Directorate (now Neighbourhood Services) appointed RLCL to carry out a Strategic Environmental Assessment and Health Impact Assessment of two alternative strategies for household waste management in the city. RLCL subcontracted the HIA to the MRC Institute for Environment and Health and undertook the majority of the SEA in-house. 

The scenarios differed mainly in the amount of recycling predicted to be achievable and the treatment of residual waste. The NCC scenario had recycling levels similar to those being achieved by high performing UK authorities with EfW and landfill to deal with residual waste. Byker and Newcastle Waste Group (BAN Waste), a community-led partnership, put forward an alternative scenario that envisaged a significantly higher recycling rate, comparable with high performing European countries, with residual waste treatment by MBT/anaerobic digestion and landfill of the residue. 

We considered the potential environmental and health impacts of each waste management option upon the surrounding population and environment.  Detailed impact assessments were not appropriate given the strategic level of the study, especially in the absence of detailed designs for facilities. We also reviewed the performance of each scenario against local authority and national targets and considered the practicalities of delivering each scenario. 

During the course of the study we consulted key stakeholders and worked with BAN Waste representatives. NCC officers also gave significant assistance. BAN Waste is not known for its reticence on the subject of waste management, and EfW in particular, and progress meetings were lively, if sometimes exhausting affairs! Inevitably, our conclusions were never going to entirely please all parties. Nevertheless, it has been an interesting and, in some ways, ground-breaking project during which we have recognised different priorities in waste management at practical and strategic levels.