Issue - items at meetings - Waste Disposal and North London Heat and Power Project

Issue - meetings

Waste Disposal and North London Heat and Power Project

Meeting: 25/11/2020 - Environment Forum (Item 4)

4 Waste Disposal and North London Heat and Power Project pdf icon PDF 5 MB

To receive a presentation from North London Waste on waste disposal and the North London Heat and Power Project. 

Minutes:

The Forum received a presentation from David Cullen (Programme Director North London Heat and Power) and Martin Capstick (Managing Director) of the North London Waste Authority.   Copies of the slides are available on the Council website. 

 

1.            Presentation

 

The following points were highlighted during the presentation:

 

·         The North London Waste Authority is the waste authority for 7 North London boroughs, serves over 2 million people, deals with 3% of the waste in the UK and is the second largest waste authority in the country. 

·         Their main objective was to minimise and avoid waste.  They run a large waste reduction and recycling programme.

·         Collection of waste has been key during the pandemic and they were proud to have been able to keep waste services running throughout. 

·         The authority ran the largest waste prevention programme in London including innovative schemes such as clothe swaps and low plastic zones.  This had been estimated to reduce waste by 10,000 tonnes per year. 

·         The current eco-park facility first opened in 1970 and is one of the oldest in Europe.  Work started on a replacement in 2019 following a public consultation.  The replacement is due to be completed by 2025. 

·         The project was aligned with Enfield’s ambition to make Edmonton an area of high quality industrial activity.  It will also supply heat to the Council’s company Energetik. 

·         The new facility will help tackle the climate emergency, reducing carbon emissions, promoting recycling and energy recovery.  It was a priority to avoid landfill. 

·         The new facilities will efficiently remove toxic substances from the air, equivalent to taking 200,000 cars off the road, improving air quality.

·         The district heating network is a very efficient use of energy.  The new plants will meet current and future standards. 

·         There are three elements to the proposals: 

o   A resource recovery facility which will enable more materials to be sorted for recycling and will have the capacity to manage 135,000 tonnes of material a year. 

o   The Ecopark House (a two storey pavilion next to the River Lea) which will act as a community hub for the circular economy including a visitor centre, education and community facilities and a base for Enfield sea cadets. 

o   The Energy Recovery Facility – using the latest technology to create energy with clean emissions.

·         Construction started in 2019 and the preparatory stages are now coming to an end.  The old and new facilities will be running along side each other. The whole programme will be complete in 2031.  A local company, Galldris Construction, has been employed to carry out the preparatory works. 

·         Part of the work involves diverting the path of a large sewer.  This is being done by a specialist tunnel borers Barhale. 

·         Taylor Woodrow are designing and constructing the Eco Park House and the Resource Recovery Centre. 

·         Construction work was paused in March, because of the pandemic and the authority’s determination to put safety first. Since then they had made a concerted effort to ensure that they were covid secure and have avoided transmission in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4