Waste Management in Cumbria - Assignment Example

Waste management in Cumbria Waste management in Cumbria Cumbria, a non-metropolitan county located in North West England. Thepopulation of Cumbria was approximately 490,000 in 2002, and they lived in 209,000 households. The area is lowly populated with the unemployment rate of 2.2 percent. The council of Cumbria constitutes of 84 councillors without one main party affiliation. The council is responsible for the employment of 16,500 staff members across all services. The waste management of the area constitutes of waste disposal as well as civic amenity sites. The net revenue budget of the council for the waste management is often above £15 million (Chapman 2012). The waste management service is responsible for the employment of two full-time as well as one part-time staff. “There are eight disposal contracts for landfill sites and two for the civic amenity sites.” The inspection of the daily activities is part of the management programme of concurrent observation of waste management in six Cumbrian district councils also referred to as waste collection authorities and Cumbria County Council that is regarded as the waste disposal authority. In connection to waste management in Cumbria, the paper will mainly expound on Cumbria Waste Management Limited and Derwent Recycling Services Limited. It will also provide information on what the municipal waste constitutes (Chapman 2012). Additionally, the paper will detail on weaknesses associated with the waste management as well as the appropriate recommendations. Cumbria Waste Management Limited “Cumbria Waste Management Limited is a local authority waste disposal company with three operational landfill sites at Distington near Workington, Hespin Wood near Carlisle and Flusco near Penrith.” Before disposing of materials collected from all the sewers, they are first treated biologically. The treatment manages successfully to remove about 99% of the ammoniacal nitrogen as well as BOD. Despite its success in the management of wastes, the 2002 regulations led to the banning of the collection of liquid wastes to landfills in 2007. It was as a result of the ban that the Distington was preferred as a point for treating aqueous non-hazardous wastes that were sent initially to the landfill (Messenger 2014). A Liquid Waste Acceptance Facility was built near to the existing leachate treatment plant so as to provide treatment services continuously to the liquid waste disposal to the customers. It was believed that the construction of the plant would also result to the generation of income through creation of new business. The introduction of third party wastes was associated with the occurrence of detrimental effects to bacterial biomass. Unfortunately, the loss of bacterial biomass was also thought to result to the failure of the sewers, financial penalties, as well as prosecution. Additionally, the loss of the bacterial biomass was thought to increase the disposal costs. It was as a result of these reasons that the CWM decided to introduce a Strathtox respirometer to identify the content of the incoming liquid wastes in order to avoid compromising the health of biomass (Cumbria Waste Management 2014). The instrument is extensively used in monitoring and screening all liquid products that are treated in the LWTF (Messenger 2014). For instance, it is evident that liquids exhibiting an EC50 value of 20% and below are considered unsafe for treatment and are sent back. In other words, majority of the waste products handled by the Cumbria Waste Management Limited are relatively harmless to the living biomass, and they usually provide the desired inhibitory results. The Strathtox equipment enables the company to do away with any uncertainty regarding the biomass. Derwent Recycling Services Ltd is also a recycling waste management company that is located in Workington, Cumbria. The company provides a complete waste disposal as well as recycling services in the whole of Cumbria (Wainwright 2013). The waste management by the company covers metal recycling services, wood recycling services, glass recycling services, paper and cardboard recycling, plastic recycling services, and industrial and commercial waste collection. In recycling the metals, the company provides an extreme service that result to the separation of ferrous metals from non-ferrous metals. In addition to providing people with containers in which they put their used metal containers, Derwent Recycling Services Ltd also schedule one-off collections to meet the demands of the people. Derwent Recycling Services also buy scrap metals from people directly in order to enhance the collection of the metals from the environment (Resource Cumbria 2013). Additionally, the company ensures that it has bought all types of metals in two sets; ferrous and non-ferrous metals so as to minimize metal pollution as much as possible. The provision of competitive rates for scrap metals contribute also significantly to the cleaning of Cumbria. It is as a result of the promising pay that majority of the people sell their waste metals to the company and as a lead to the reduction of the rate of pollution as a result of the metals to decrease significantly in Cumbria (Recycling Collections 2014). In connection to this, it is evident that the majority of the metal products in the UK are the products of scrap metals collected from Cumbria. Derwent Recycling Services is also associated with the collection of wood products from the environment. It achieves this by providing people with containers in which they put unused woods. Additionally, the company offers competitive prices for the woods so as to make people do develop the willingness of selling their unused wood products. Among the types of woods that the company buys and recycle include all soft and hard woods, pallets, chipboard and OSB, off-cuts, boxes, packing cases, plywood, melamine and laminates, Medium Density Fibreboard, hardboard, and doors (Cumbria County Council and Shanks Waste Management case study, 2011). The woods collected by Derwent Recycling Services are broken down and sent to be recycled in a reprocessor. For instance, low-grade wood is taken to A.W. Jenkinson’s Lockerbie site where it is chipped and put together with other chipped biomass and used in the production of energy. High-grade wood, on the other hand, is sent to the U.K processing plant where it is screened and processed into chipboard. Through all these activities, Derwent Recycling Services manages to help in not only all waste wood recycling, but also in scrapping wood collection in Cumbria. Derwent Recycling Services also aid in the management of the glass bottles in Cumbria. It achieves this by first collecting all waste glass as well as glass bottles from pubs and inns as well as from hotels and offices distributed in Cumbria. Additionally, the company associates itself with businesses involved in the use of many bottles so as to be in a position to collect all the used bottles. It also advertises its responsibility to other parts of Cumbria and also provides containers for the collection of the bottles and glasses. Among the glasses, the company collects include mixed colored glasses of different sizes (Cumbrian Partnership Increases Recycling 2014). The company also accrues out daily collections in hotels, pubs, and restaurants so as to maximize its collection. The collected glasses and bottles by the company are crushed and sent to Scotland where they are re-crushed to remove metal contaminants and paper. The formed cullet is then used in the manufacture of new glasses and bottles. Paper and cardboard recycling services are also offered in Cumbria by Derwent Recycling Services. The papers recycled by the company include office papers, printer waste papers, and cardboards. The company also shred documents that may result to security breaches. In offering this service, the company provides the people with interwoven polypropylene bags with specific tags and lockable wheelie bins. The company also takes part in the recycling of the office papers because of not only the large volumes of papers associated with the companies, but also because of the complications that may result from having piles of papers in offices. Additionally, the process of recycling office papers aid in reducing the cost associated with the construction of landfill disposals. The collected papers are compressed into dense bales then sent to the UK paper mill where they are recycled into other products such as kitchen roll as well as toilet papers. Derwent Recycling Services also collects printer’s waste materials from almost all parts of Cumbria ant its surroundings (Rothay Holme, Ambleside 2014). Just as in offices, the company aids printer users in saving the cost associated with the current disposal methods such as treatment, handling and transportation. Additionally, the collection enables an individual to carry out his or her business efficiently. Derwent Recycling Services also recycle all types and sizes of cardboards in Cumbria. It is also the company that collect, transports and recycles the waste cardboards. In managing this, the company provides people with big litter bins to collect their cardboards. Just like waste papers, Derwent Recycling Services bales the cardboards and sends them to paper mills in the UK, Indonesia as well as China where they are recycled back into cardboards and materials that can be used for packaging (Resource Cumbria 2013). Plastics are the main cause of pollution in many countries in the world. They are un-biodegradable, and as a result of that they are often littered everywhere. However, management of plastic materials in Cumbria is very appealing. Cumbria through Derwent Recycling Services Ltd has managed to collect all plastic materials from the environment and re-use them. This is evidenced by the fact that Derwent Recycling Services provides people and business persons with plastic containers to keep, collect and recycle waste plastics. All plastics collected by the company are baled and recycled within Cumbria (Resource Cumbria 2008). This is enhanced by the availability of the company’s modern balling facility. Among the plastics managed successfully in Cumbria include UPVC window frames as well as door frames, plastic bottles, and caps and lids. Other plastic materials include plastic pallets and crates, plastic sheeting, CD’s and DVD’s, stretch wrap, bubble wrap and cling film, plastic carrier bags, manufacturers scrap, polyethene, and car bumpers. The collected plastics are baled and then sent to a UK processor where they are recycled back into valuable plastic products. Currently, technological advancement has led to an increase in the rate of environmental pollution in the world. Industrialization is the one responsible for loss of fauna in water bodies. It is as a result of the extensive pollution by industries that the Environmental Protection Act 1990 was formulated. The act imposes a Duty of Care on organizations responsible for the production of wastes, obliging them to manage their wastes effectively (Borough Recycling hits the charts, 2013). The act also expounds on the procedures to be followed in the containment, collection, as well as disposal of the waste products. Despite environmental pollution as a result of industrialization being one of the key problems in the world, Cumbria successfully manages the industrial waste products. This however is enhanced by the role played by companies such as the Derwent Recycling Services Ltd (Cumbria County Council 2014). Apart from advertising its responsibility in the society, Derwent Recycling Services also provides companies with containers to store their waste products. Additionally, Derwent Recycling Services is one of the licensed companies in Cumbria that carries and disposes waste materials effectively (Cumbrian Partnership Increases Recycling 2014). Majority of the collected industrial waste materials are recycled in Cumbria. This is evidenced by the fact that Derwent Recycling Services manages to separate recyclable materials from non-recyclable on its site referred to as Materials Recycling Facility (MRF). The prevention of the storage of nuclear wastes underground is also as a result of Cumbria. According to Cumbria’s cabinet, the storage of nuclear wastes underground will result to destruction of natural fauna as well as the quality of western Lake District. Additionally, Cumbria’s cabinet asserts that the storage of nuclear materials in the western Lake District will contribute negatively to tourism attraction to that area. From this assertion; therefore, one can deduce that Cumbria is determined to protect the environment from any sort of pollution (Resource Cumbria 2008). Advantages of waste management in Cumbria Waste management in Cumbria has successfully managed to enhance the protection of the environment from pollution. Approximately of 90% of the waste products from homesteads and industries are re-used in Cumbria and other nations such as China and Indonesia. The management has also aided significantly in solving the problem associated with the depletion of resources. Additionally, Cumbria’s waste management has also managed to overcome the problems that result to the climatic change (Derwent Recycling Services Ltd 2014). The diversion of organic wastes from being piled in the landfills prevents the emission of gases such as methane that is one of the main contributing factors for the greenhouse effect. The prevention of the piling of the landfills also aids the protection of the environment for the future generation. The natural environment, as well as living things such as fish and other living things associated with water, has also been successfully protected from intoxication because of the Cumbria’s waste management programme (Wainwright 2013). Waste management in Cumbria has also led to waste prevention. This is enhanced by its preach of the essence of reducing wastes, reusing wastes, recycling wastes, recovering energy from wastes as well as disposing of wastes safely. Waste management in Cumbria also has diverse economic effects. Reuse, as well as recycling of waste materials, creates employment opportunities to the local communities. Organizations also manage to reduce the costs associated with the collection, as well as construction of energy recovery facilities and landfills through reducing the waste produced (Technical Due Diligence of Cumbria’s Waste Management Facilities 2002). Advocating waste management protects the county council as well as the taxpayer from the government’s penalties associated with Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme. Waste management in Cumbria has also been enhanced by the activities carried out by the people. For instance, it is evident that waste management officers in Cumbria do take waste prevention training in order to teach other people on what to do so as to minimize the rate of waste production. Cumbria is also known of staging waste management campaigns. A good example of such a waste management campaign is the one that was funded by WRAP’s Behavioral Change Local Fund. The main goal of that campaign was increase participation as well as reduces contamination by increasing the quantities of recycling collected (Derwent Recycling Services Ltd 2014). Cumbria is also known of rewarding schools that participate in the environmental management. Rewards such as musical instruments and electrical devices encourage not only school children to recycle, but also households. Additionally, Cumbria provides waste education to schools, thus enhancing the management of the environment. In conclusion, Cumbria plays a very significant role in the management of waste. Its municipal council is involved in the collection of household waste products, flytipped waste, street cleaning waste, recycling materials collected from recycling centers, commercial wastes, and waste from the preservation of public parks. Through collection of the waste materials, Cumbria has also managed to create job opportunities to very many people. The waste management programme has also aided significantly in the economic sector. In addition to reducing the costs associated with construction and maintenance of landfills, Cumbria County Council has also led to the reduction of government penalties associated with landfills. The use of teaching programmes as well as incentives has also contributed significantly to the management of the environment in Cumbria. Reference List Borough Recycling hits the charts, 2013, viewed 20 November 2014, Chapman, I 2012, ‘Cumbria Waste Management Ltd – Use of the Strathkelvin Strathtox Respirometer in Waste Acceptance Testing,’ viewed 20 November 2014, Cumbria County Council 2014, http://www.cumbria.gov.uk/landing_page/wasteandrecycling.asp Cumbria County Council and Shanks Waste Management case study, 2011. Health and Safety Executive, viewed 20 November 2014, http://news.hse.gov.uk/2011/01/04/cumbria-county-council-and-shanks-waste-management-case-study/ Cumbria Waste Management 2014, viewed 20 November 2014, http://www.cumbriawaste.co.uk/cgi-bin/v4/frm3ml.pl Cumbrian Partnership Increases Recycling 2014, viewed 20 November 2014 http://www.itv.com/news/border/update/2014-09-03/cumbrian-partnership-increases-recycling/ Derwent Recycling Services Ltd 2014. http://www.derwentrecyclingservices.co.uk/ Messenger, B, 2014, ‘New Recycling & RDF Facility Hits 98% Landfill Diversion in Cumbria, Waste Management World,’ viewed 20 November 2014, Recycling Collections 2014, Cumbria Waste Group, viewed 20 November 2014, Resource Cumbria 2008, Cumbria Strategic Waste Partnership, viewed 20 November 2014, Wainwright, M 2013, ‘Cumbria Rejects Underground Nuclear Storage Dump, the Guardian,’ viewed 20 November 2014, Resource Cumbria 2013, Cumbria Strategic Waste Partnership: Joint Municipal Waste Management Strategy 2008-2020, viewed 20 November 2014, Rothay Holme, Ambleside 2014, Recycle for Cumbria, viewed 20 November 2014, Technical Due Diligence of Cumbria’s Waste Management Facilities 2002, viewed 20 November 2014, Waste Management Cumbria County Council 2004, viewed 20 November 2014, Read More