Sheffield Contract, United Kingdom: Integrated Waste Management

Global Waste Management

Social and environmental aspects

From the beginning of the contract, Veolia Environmental Services has approached the waste reduction requirement of Sheffield's contract proactively. It has worked with Sheffield City Council on a series of communication campaigns designed to increase awareness of waste issues, encourage waste reduction and engage all sectors within the community.

Veolia Environmental Services also works with Sheffield City Council on a schools program, helping to deliver workshops, interactive sessions, games and crafts to city schools. In 2006, 15 waste education sessions were delivered to young children, while 70 waste education sessions were delivered to schools. Weekly recycling education sessions also take place at Whirlow Hall Farm Trust, a local charity providing residential visits to schoolchildren. In 2006 Veolia Environmental Services joined forces with the farm to deliver sustainability and recycling activity sessions.

Workshops and discussion sessions with local community groups are frequently undertaken. The Mobile Information Unit is present at many local events and in the city center at key dates throughout the year. As an information point, it promotes the "3Rs," "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle." Education and awareness sessions are often timed to coincide with local and national events such as Compost Week and Environment Day.

The "recycling champions" campaign encourages local people to take ownership of recycling efforts in their area. A total of 2,500 inhabitants are now registered. They receive information packs, newsletters, advice and support on recycling campaigns, and invitations to special events. One of these was a Fashion Show where Sheffield fashion students displayed outfits made completely from waste materials.

As an important university destination, Sheffield has a large transitory population to persuade into good waste management practice. A two-year recycling campaign is currently targeting the city's students to raise awareness and encourage participation in recycling.

The landfill tax credit scheme was introduced 10 years ago in the United Kingdom as a means to lessen the impact of landfill sites in neighboring communities. Veolia Environmental Services voluntarily donates 6% of its landfill tax liability to the Veolia Trust, a registered charity and environmental body. Two recent projects were financed in the Sheffield area:

• in 2005, the renovation of a disused building in Sheffield enabled it to be transformed into a functional family development center. The new center offers a wider service to parents, carers and children in a disadvantaged and deprived part of the city;

• in 2006, the funding of a new cycle track, built to race standard, replaced one that had fallen into disrepair.

A second satisfaction survey carried out in 2006 showed that the vast majority of respondents, around nine out of 10, were satisfied with the different waste management services they received. Moreover, recycling was important to 85% of respondents. The survey showed a significant increase in people's participation in recycling (from 40% in 2004 to 90% in 2006).

Technical aspects

At the start of the contract in 2001 Sheffield was recycling and composting 4% of its municipal waste. Working with Sheffield City Council, Veolia Environmental Services has developed an integrated waste management program aimed at achieving 21% recycling (objective reached in 2006 with a recycling rate of 22%) and 61% from energy recovery, with the residual (18%) landfilled.

Veolia Environmental Services operates five Household Waste Recycling Centers and maintains over 200 bring banks across Sheffield. The Materials Recovery Facility has a paper and cardboard throughput of 20,000 metric tons per year, with the capacity to deal with a further 5,500 metric tons. The Energy Recovery Facility has a waste throughput capacity of 225,000 metric tons of municipal solid waste and plays an important part in the city's innovative approach to waste management, generating up to 21 MW of electricity and up to 60 MW of heat for the District Energy Network. The network of pressurized hot water pipelines under the city supplies heat to 149 buildings, saving over 12,000 metric tons of CO2 annually.