Future of Leeds' waste

​At the moment, most of Leeds' waste is still buried in the ground.  Burying rubbish costs huge amounts of money, and the bill to the Council is going up around £1.5 million every year.  The rotting rubbish also creates methane, a powerful greenhouse gas which can harm the environment. This cannot continue.  The Council started the residual waste treatment project to identify different options of treating this waste.

The Council are still working hard to help reduce the amount of waste thrown away and to recycle as much as possible.  The Council has set new targets to recycle 55% of Leeds' waste by 2016 and a long term target to recycle over 60%.  The Council are improving recycling services, especially in areas that did not receive a service in the past.

Even after these efforts, there will still be a substantial proportion of the waste that needs to be disposed of, collected mainly in black bins.  This is called residual waste.

No. The requirements for the new facility are developed by the Council as part of our overall waste strategy, and therefore have always considered our existing and planned waste reduction and recycling priorities.

Once planning permission is granted, building will start in summer 2013, and take approximately 3 years to complete.  It is therefore likely that the facility will be up and running by March 2016.​

​There are targets set in the contract regarding job opportunities, apprenticeships and training opportunities including for long-term unemployed for both the contruction and operational phases.

It is estimated that there will be approximately 355 skilled and unskilled job opportunities during the construction stage (233 directly on site, and the rest indirectly through the local supply chain) and around 45 during the operation phase of the project.  Veolia will work with the Council and local employment support agencies to fill these job opportunities (skilled and unskilled) from the local workforce wherever possible.  They will also work with local colleges to provide work placements, apprentiships and training opportunities.

Veolia will use local suppliers wherever possible for materials, goods and services required for the construction of the facility and during operations will make a positive contribution to the local economy.

Veolia are proposing to build a landmark Recycling and Energy Recovery Facility (RERF) at the former wholesale market site on the Cross Green industrial estate.  Their facility comprises two main treatments.  A flexible Mechanical Pre-Treatment facility will remove a range of recyclable materials left in the residual waste (at least 10% but Veolia is hoping to recycle 20%).  The waste left over will then be burnt under controlled and safe conditions using proven Energy Recovery technology, to supply the National Grid with enough electricity to power around 20,000 households.