Draft Regulation 18 Sandwell Local Plan

13. Waste and Minerals

Waste - Introduction

13.1 Sandwell Council is the waste collection, waste disposal and waste planning authority for the borough.

13.2 The key objective for waste across Sandwell is to minimise its generation across all sectors and increase the re-use, recycling, and recovery rates of waste material.

13.3 The following policy aims are likely to be important for Sandwell going forward:

1. the proposed introduction of a requirement to segregate certain municipal wastes for collection, which implies a need for a review and the revision of collection regimes for the Local Authority and businesses producing commercial waste;
2. continued focus on measures to encourage waste prevention including, in line with national policy, the introduction of produce responsibility obligations for packaging wastes and reduction of single use plastics; and
3. continued focus on the protection of the environment and human health and tackling waste disposal crime.

Waste Infrastructure – Future Requirements

13.4 This policy sets out the overall strategy and principles for waste management in Sandwell and the types of waste development that will support this. It also identifies how much new waste management capacity Sandwell is likely to need to support planned levels of housing and growth over the plan period, and to help deliver the Strategic Priority of meeting the Sandwell's resource and infrastructure needs.

Justification

13.5 There have been significant policy changes in the management of waste over the last 20 years primarily due to the implementation of the waste hierarchy and the need to reuse and recycle waste before disposing of it. In addition, the management of waste should be considered alongside other spatial planning matters, including economic development, regeneration and the national obligation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The National Planning Policy for Waste requires that areas and / or sites for the location of waste management facilities are identified in Local Plans. The Plan identifies several preferred areas for the location of new waste facilities.

13.6 In line with national waste planning guidance, the Plan will, where necessary, make provision for the suitable management of non-hazardous waste; Local Authority Collected Waste (LACW) and Commercial and Industrial Waste (C&I); construction, demolition and excavation waste (CD&E); hazardous waste such as asbestos or batteries, low-level radioactive waste, agricultural waste and wastewater produced from water treatment.

13.7 Findings in the Black Country Waste Study (BCWS) (2020) show that the waste industry has grown quickly over the past twenty years and makes a significant contribution to the national economy. The past two decades has seen growth of around 55% in employment and incomes in the sector.

13.8 The waste sector is of importance to Sandwell, where it makes a far more significant contribution to the economy (0.88% of total local jobs) when compared with national figures (0.55% of jobs nationally). It is expected that this sector's contribution to GVA will grow by nearly 250% by 2030. To deliver these environmental and economic benefits, the Plan will have an important role in providing the land use policy in its support.

13.9 Housing and employment land are projected to increase in Sandwell as the regeneration of the urban area progresses, to help meet strategic housing and employment targets. The needs of new waste infrastructure will be required to be balanced with those of housing and employment for suitable development sites. In seeking to identify development sites for waste infrastructure, priority shall be given to the safeguarding of existing and allocated sites for their continued use and the retention of the local employment areas in which they occur.

13.10 Waste reduction and resource efficiency improvements will have a significant influence on future waste growth. Waste per household decreased from a peak of 1,056 kilograms per household per year (kg/hh/yr) in 2002 - 03 to 983 kg/hh/yr in 2017 - 18 (a reduction of over 7.5%). This has been driven by a range of factors, including household income, increased resource efficiency (such as lightweighting^[179]) and changes in consumer behaviours. Similar factors are also thought to be driving reductions in C&I waste.

13.11 In addition, the transition towards a circular economy, the approach to economic development designed to benefit businesses, society and the environment, is expected to significantly change the way waste will be managed in future. In particular, the quantities of waste reused, recycled, and composted are expected to increase substantially.

13.12 Transitioning towards the circular economy will involve a significant reduction in the amount of waste produced by households and businesses, because avoidable waste will be 'designed out' of products at the manufacturing stage. It will also mean a significant shift away from methods of managing unavoidable waste at the bottom of the 'waste hierarchy' (waste disposal and energy recovery) and towards those at the top of the hierarchy which can 'close the loop' (re-use and recycling).

13.13 As waste facilities are an essential part of the infrastructure of an area, it is not only important that they are appropriately located, but also that policy protection is applied to areas suitable for waste uses, to help achieve the objectives of moving waste up the hierarchy.

13.14 A different set of assumptions have been applied to the CD&E stream, based on the construction waste targets set under the Waste Framework Directive (2009/98/EC), the management of current CD&E arisings and the likely targets to be set in the future.

13.15 Total waste management capacity in Sandwell is driven by decreasing disposal capacity as existing landfill and other disposal sites run out of void space. The capacities include both internal and external capacity for recycling and transfer, based on exports of waste from the Black Country; the capacities of these site categories are not anticipated to increase or decrease significantly over the plan period.

13.16 To account for likely changes in operational capacity at the waste management sites, internal capacity is based on five-year average (mean) tonnages of 'waste received' at permitted sites and operational incinerators by site category, 2013-2017. Material legislative and collection approach changes have been minimal over this period, so a five-year average is a more reliable figure than using the longer ten-year average. It should be noted that external capacity is based on 2017 input tonnages of 'waste received' at permitted sites and operational incinerators, by site category.

Expected Changes – Waste Management

13.17 Under current projections, the quantity of waste Sandwell is projected to manage increases from 1.75 mt in 2021 to 2.2 mt in 2040 – 41, equating to an increase of 26% or 1.2% per annum. An ongoing emphasis on waste reduction has seen a 7.5% reduction in waste per household since 2006 - 07 and this trend could have a significant influence on future waste growth. However, there are emerging changes in the need for different types of waste management capacity.

13.18 The waste projections have also considered a range of waste management scenarios based on the recycling rates that may be achieved, and these are summarised in Table 12 below. The BCWS considers that Waste Management Scenario 2 (WMS2) is the most likely scenario for Sandwell.

13.19 WMS2 (Circular Economy) assumes that the targets for reuse and recycling of municipal waste will be achieved for household and C&I waste over the plan period (i.e., 65% of waste from these streams will be recycled by 2035). A different set of assumptions has been applied to the CD&E waste stream, based on existing CD&E waste management rates in the Black Country and potential future recycling targets suggested in the 'Circular Economy Package' proposals.

Table 12 - Black Country Waste Study – Waste Management Scenarios

Source: BCWS, Table 4.7

Waste Imports and Exports

13.20 The BCWS waste projections also considered net waste imports. Around 1.35 million tonnes of waste were received at permitted waste sites (including landfill sites) and operational incinerators in Sandwell in 2021 (BCWS Table 2.10). The total imports into Sandwell originating from the West Midlands Region was 746 tonnes, representing 68% of the total waste received.

13.21 More than 80% of the waste received at permitted waste facilities in Sandwell (excluding incinerators) in 2021 by tonnage originated within the former West Midlands region (BCWS Appendix J, Table J4). However, the originating authority of 29.5% of this waste is not known. 15% of the waste is recorded as originating from within the Black Country, and 15% from Birmingham.

13.22 Similarly, more than 80% of the waste received at permitted sites in England which was recorded as having originated in Sandwell in 2021 (by tonnage) did not travel beyond the former West Midlands region. Outside the West Midlands, the East Midlands, Southwest and East of England were the three largest importers of waste into Sandwell, importing 9% of total waste.

13.23 In 2021 nearly 608kt of waste originating in Sandwell were exported to permitted sites in England and Wales.

Waste Growth Projections

13.24 The waste projections for Sandwell are a function of waste growth projections and waste management scenarios. These have been informed by Sandwell and the Resources and Waste Strategy and incorporate differences in waste growth and recycling and recovery performance which may vary over the plan period.

'Capacity Gaps' and Need for New Waste Infrastructure 2018 – 2041

13.25 Housing and employment land demand are projected to increase as Sandwell's regeneration of the urban area progresses. The needs of new waste infrastructure need to be balanced with those of housing and employment for suitable development sites. The Council will look to identify development sites for waste infrastructure, with priority placed upon the safeguarding of existing and allocated sites for continued use.

13.26 In addition, the way waste will be managed in future is expected to change significantly as the UK transitions towards a circular economy. The quantities of waste reused, recycled and composted are expected to increase significantly.

13.27 Based on the assumption that the circular economy recycling targets identified in Table 12 above will either be met (WMS2) or partially met (WMS3), the BCWS (Table 4.9) predicts that the following additional waste management capacity will need to be delivered in the Black Country between 2021 and 2041 to maintain net self-sufficiency:

1. re-use / recycling (non-hazardous municipal waste) – 813 kt to 4tpa
2. energy recovery (residual municipal waste) – 335 to 663 kt tpa

(Source - BCWS, paragraphs 3.5.1 – 3.5.29, Table 3.9)

13.28 Most of the new capacity requirements identified in the policy are expected to be delivered by the waste industry rather than by the local authority. Delivery will therefore depend on whether new projects are financially viable and attractive to investors. This will in turn depend on demand from waste producers, the effectiveness of government initiatives to incentivise re-use and recycling of waste in preference to energy recovery and disposal to landfill, and the availability of suitable sites where the new facilities can be built (Policy W3).

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