Hertfordshire County Council's future capacity for processing local waste is under pressure after the council terminated their agreement with Veolia - the company contracted to dispose of Hertfordshire’s waste.
The contract with Velioa would have provided an Energy Recovery Facility in Hoddesdon to take the waste that residents produce that cannot be reused, recycled or composted. However, the government last month refused planning permission for the plant, having previously refused permission for a similar plant in Hatfield.
With 1500 new homes expected to be built in Ware over the next 15 years, and 100,000 across the county overall, the council urgently need more waste treatment capacity.
Terry Hone, Cabinet Member for Waste Management, said: "With the proposed sites in Hatfield and Hoddesdon both having been turned down by the Secretary of State this long term contract with Veolia is unable to continue.
“This leaves us with a substantial problem as we’re running out of options for dealing with the residual waste Hertfordshire currently produces"
"We urgently need more waste treatment capacity. In the short term we will have to continue transporting hundreds of thousands of tonnes of waste to other parts of the country for treatment which is expensive and bad for the environment.”
Waste that cannot be reused, recycled or composted - around 250,000 tonnes a year - is currently transported by road to landfill sites and energy recovery facilities in neighbouring counties. The council have contracts in place to continue with this arrangement for most of the waste until 2024. The authority will soon be tendering for contracts to deal with a further 25,000 tonnes of waste.