The Future of Waste in Tameside

A £3Bn waste contract has been agreed by the Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority to dispose of the region's waste for the next 25 years.

The company, Viridor/Laing will provide new facilities using the latest technology to treat and dispose of waste from Tameside and the other eight boroughs in the county
In total 1.4 million tonnes of municipal waste is generated each year in Greater Manchester. The 25-year contract is generally acknowledged to be the largest waste services contract to be let in Western Europe and involves over £300 million of investment in new infrastructure and is estimated to be worth around £3 billion.

Viridor/Laing presented a technical solution that fits with the Greater Manchester waste management strategy. It included good proposals for waste minimisation and ensuring 50% of waste in Greater Manchester is recycled or composted. The ‘residual' waste that remains will be handled using a combination of Mechanical Biological Treatment, Anaerobic Digestion and the production of a fuel that can generate heat and power.

Technologies Explained

Mechanical Biological Treatment

Mechanical Biological Treatment plants are used to treat waste remaining after recycling and composting. Mechanical processes extract further recyclate and separate fuel, whilst the biodegradable fraction of the waste is treated biologically.

Anaerobic Digestion

Anaerobic Digestion may form the biological treatment stage of an MBT plant. The biodegradable fraction is degraded in the absence of air by microbes to produce a digestate and a gas, which can be used for electricity generation.

Executive member for the environment, Cllr Catherine Piddington said: “The new contract will see the redevelopment of the Household Waste Recycling Centres at Ash Road in Droylsden and Bayley Street in Stalybridge. This will make the sites more user friendly for the borough's residents and increase recycling levels.

“The contract will also present new solutions that will enable the Council to improve recycling services and make them easier for residents to use and understand.”

Greener Way to Travel

A new 3km cycle path linking Ashton Town centre to Park Bridge Heritage Centre, with a link to Oldham town centre is under construction thanks to a partnership between Tameside Council and SUSTRANS (Sustainable Transport Charity).

 The first phase of the cycle route stretches from Turner Lane to Bristol Avenue (1.2 Km) and will be built in April.

Tameside Council and Oldham Council have put a joint bid to the ‘Connect 2 Big Lottery Fund' to provide two bridges on this cycle route linking Ashton to Oldham – one over Alt Hill Lane and the other over the River Medlock at Park Bridge – which will if successful bring £2million to the area. 

Cllr Alan Whitehead, executive member for technical services said: “The route links the residential areas and the town centre to the countryside with wonderful views. It is open to use by walkers and horse riders.

“When completed we hope that the opening up of this transport link will bring new investments to the area. We hope the residents of Tameside will enjoy this facility and in the process increase their level of exercise, to achieve a healthier society.”

Current Recycling Services

Blue Bin Scheme

The Blue bin scheme for the collection of waste paper has been in operation in Tameside since 1994 and covers the majority of properties in the borough. The scheme currently collects approximately 5000 tonnes of paper each year, which is recycled into new newspapers.

Brown Bin Scheme

The Brown bin scheme for the collection of garden waste has proven highly successful and the amount of garden waste recycled each year is increasing. During 2005/06 approximately 1750 tonnes of garden waste were recycled and the tonnage for 2006/07 is expected to top 5000 tonnes.

The scheme collects grass cutting, leave, twigs, small branches and Christmas trees, which are shredded and turned into compost. The compost produced can be purchased from the Household Waste Recycling Centre at Bayley Street in Stalybridge.

Green Bin Scheme

The green bins scheme for the collection for glass bottles and jars, food and drinks can and plastic bottles and plastic film currently cover 55,000 properties in Tameside.

Over 2500 tonnes of glass are collected by the scheme each year and the glass is taken to the Tameside Environment Centre where it is pulverised to sand. The sand is then sold for various industrial applications including shot blasting.

Cans and Plastics are also taken to the Tameside Environment Centre where they are separated and Baled. The baled cans are sold and the metal used to make new products. The plastic bottles are recycled into plastic planks witch are made into benches and litterbins and used throughout Tameside. Plastic film is recycled into items such as cable covering.

For further information on the above recycling schemes, please contact the Environmental Call Centre on 0161 342 8355.

New Fire Station to Open its Doors

A new £2.1m state-of-the-art fire station for Ashton is set to open to doors in October.

The 800-square metre station has been earmarked for land at Slate Lane in the town and is set to replace the old site in Hodgson Street which is coming to the end of its shelf life.

The new facility boasts not only standard fire station equipment including bays for the engines and specialist equipment and facilities for staff, there will also be a specialist training area and community room for those who live and work in the area.

Work began on the station in January and is expected to be finished by October. The old Hodgson Street site was exchanged for the new one as part of a land swap with the council.

Chair of council business at Tameside and Vice-Chair of the Fire Authority, Cllr Jack Davis said: “We're all delighted that Ashton will be getting a new station. This is a big investment for the Fire Authority and it will provide state-of-the-art fire station facilities which will be or real benefit to the whole community.”

Door to Door Service

A door-to-door bus service in Tameside and Oldham is to stay on the road for at least another year due to popular demand.

Members of Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Authority's Transport Network Committee agreed to keep funding Mossley and Saddleworth Local Link at a recent.

The service picks up passengers from their homes and takes them to local destinations. Today's decision to fund a 12-month trial follows 36 per cent growth in passenger journeys in the last year.

Members also agreed to extend the service area so that more people can take advantage. The changes will come into effect from Sunday April 15.

Cllr Alan Whitehead (pictured), Chair of the Transport Network Committee and GMPTA spokesperson for Tameside said: “Since Local Link was introduced in 2004 it has proved extremely popular. So much so that we extended the operating hours areas it serves and this time last year.

“It's great news for residents in Mossley that it's being extended once again – not only can people now travel further and to more places than before, but more people will benefit from the service.

“Because it's door-to-door it is a very convenient way to travel, and it runs on demand so it's there when you want it. I am sure plenty of people will take advantage of these improvements so we can keep it on the road beyond this year long trial.”

From April the service will be extended to include the Doctor Lane Head and Wall Hill areas and will offer connections to Oldham from Pennine Meadows and Denshaw on evenings and Sundays.

This will cover journeys currently provided by bus services 351, 356 and daily evening journeys on the 407. These services, which are funded by the Authority, will be withdrawn due to very low use from Sunday 15 April.

To book Local Link, passengers simply need to call the 24-hour booking centre on 0161 343 6449 at least one hour before travelling. Journeys can be booked up to one week in advance and regular users can book all journeys for the week with just one phone call.

The service uses two eight-seater minibuses and one 16-seater minibus for community groups. All three vehicles are easily accessible for people with wheelchairs or child buggies and assistance dogs can also be accommodated.

Greener Homes on the Cards

Green-minded councillors and staff visited the first Barratts eco-smart show village in the country to pick up ideas to bring back to Tameside.

It is hoped some of the ground-breaking technology used on the Chorley site can be introduced, for example, in the new housing developments in Hattersley.

There were seven show homes on the purpose built development which incorporate all the latest energy efficient and green technologies available, including renewable energy sources generated on site.

These include various combinations of wind, solar and geothermal power as well as rainwater harvesting.

The move was arranged because the council is committed to energy and waste minimisation across Tameside and it was seen as an ideal opportunity to see first hand what one house builder was doing to take that commitment forward.

Some of the technology includes:

• Wind turbines
• Geothermal (underground) heating
• Rainwater harvesting (collecting)
• Underfloor heating
• Solar PV panels
• Micro-combined heat and power unit.