Report identifies how waste management is changing dramatically in east London

In the twelve months from April 2002 to March 2003 over 550,000 tonnes of waste was generated in the East London Waste Authority's area, which covers the boroughs of Barking & Dagenham, Havering, Newham and Redbridge. The cost of disposing of this mountain of rubbish was over £25 million and only just over 6% of the waste created was recycled.

These are facts and figures provided by ELWA and presented in the organisation's Best Value Performance Plan, which has recently been published and is available for inspection at local libraries and public access points throughout the area.

The report highlights how the appointment of Shanks Waste Services, operating under the title Shanks.east london, is having a major impact upon the management and disposal of waste in the four east London boroughs.

On taking over the service in December 2002, Shanks.east london initially operated in much the same way that ELWA had done previously, with the majority of waste received via the boroughs being compacted into roll-off containers and transported by road to landfill sites in the nearby area. However, six months into the contract, service improvements have already been achieved with an overhaul of the Refuse Transfer Station at Jenkins Lane, Barking to facilitate the containerisation of waste for onward transmission by rail.

This move alone has provided major environmental benefits by cutting the number and frequency of traffic movements in this heavily congested part of east London.

But the report offers even greater potential benefits for the environment and for local people as the 25-year contract between ELWA and Shanks.east london continues to develop. In order to meet EU and Government targets, they aim to achieve:

• 25% recycling/composting in the period 2005/06 to 2009/10, 30% in the period2010/11 to 2014/15 and 33% by 2014/15
• 40% recovery from waste material by 2007/08 and 67% by 2015/16.