Council to end use of landfill sites

Hertfordshire's non-recyclable waste will be used to generate electricity from 2025 instead of going to landfill.

Hertfordshire County Council has signed new long-term contracts for disposal of the county’s residual waste, with material that cannot be reused, recycled or composted sent to energy recovery facilities where it will be used to generate electricity as a cleaner alternative to fossil fuels.

Cllr Eric Buckmaster, Executive Member for the Environment, said: "We want to create a cleaner and greener environment in Hertfordshire, so being able to stop sending waste to landfill sites is really a significant step for us. Of course, we want to help our residents throw away less, and to reuse or recycle as much as possible, but we’re still left with around 250,000 tonnes a year that we need to dispose of, and these new contracts will help us do that in a more environmentally sustainable way."

The county's residents produce around 540,000 tonnes of waste a year, and currently 52% of this is reused, recycled or composted. 

Currently the waste that cannot be reused, recycled or composted is managed through a series of short-term contracts including both landfill and energy recovery. Under the new long-term contracts, once planned new shredding facilities are operational, all of Hertfordshire’s residual waste will be able to be sent to energy recovery facilities, with none going to landfill.