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A call from Cambridge City Council for a delay in entering into a new recycling contract that will see waste from Cambridgeshire taken to a recycling centre in Newry, has failed.
Councillors said they wanted more information on the environmental impact of sending the recycling to a facility around 400 miles away before making a final decision.
However, they were told the new contract was the “best option” and that more of the waste will be recycled than before.
The new contract which is due to start in March 2025 would see waste from Cambridgeshire sent to the Re-Gen recycling facility in Newry.
The new contract will see a “significant uplift” in costs for councils. In Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire it is estimated it will cost over £2.2million in 2025/26, which will be split between the two councils.
Councillors at Cambridge City Council were asked to note the costs of the new contract at an environment and community scrutiny committee on Thursday (January 16).
Councillor Olaf Hauk (Liberal Democrat) called for the new contract to be deferred until “critical data” on the environmental impact was available for public scrutiny.
He said: “We are told the new contract will increase efficiency from 80 to 99 per cent and most recycled materials will be sold on the UK market and this is encouraging.
“However, residents are rightly questioning the environmental and logistical impact of transporting waste over 400 miles from Waterbeach to Northern Ireland, a journey crossing the Irish Sea.
“You could hardly find a spot further away from Waterbeach within the UK.
“Unfortunately, we have learnt that the operator of the local waste recycling facility in Waterbeach did not submit a valid bid, thus Waterbeach is not an option anymore. However, there were still several other bidders, I think it was seven.
“This council has committed itself to fighting climate change, yet we have learnt that transportation impacts and the carbon footprint in particular were unconsidered in the procurement process, and estimates won’t be available until March after the new operator begins.
“The lack of this foresight is concerning, therefore I urge this committee to ask Greater Cambridge Shared Waste Services to defer any new contract for our region until this critical data is available for public scrutiny.”
Cllr Hauk stressed that recycling had “great environmental, economic and social benefits” and that he did not want to “rubbish recycling”.
He said deferring the contract until they had more data meant the authority would be able to “more confidently reassure residents that their recycling efforts are making a meaningful difference”.
Other councillors also raised concerns at the meeting. Councillor Mark Ashton (Labour) said the scrutiny committee had “not had a chance to really debate or look at alternatives”.
He said the scrutiny committee should have been given more information and should be given options.
Councillor Elliot Tong (Green Party) said councillors had not had the opportunity to “adequately scrutinise these proposals”.
He said: “I think there is very little here to actually scrutinise as such, there is a shocking lack of consideration of the environmental impacts, particularly when it comes to carbon footprint, there is really nothing we can see from it.”
Councillor Rosy Moore (Labour), executive councillor for climate action and environment, said a lot of work had gone into finding the best option and she said the new contract was the “best option in these circumstances”.
She said she was “more than happy” to report back in six months or a year with data showing the impact.
Cllr Moore said she “totally disagreed” that there had been a lack of consideration about the carbon footprint.
She said they did not know what the full carbon footprint would be until recycled material was sold on.
However, Cllr Moore said there were “real benefits” to the new contract, including that what could be put in recycling bins would remain the same, and that the amount of waste actually recycled would increase from 80 per cent to 99 per cent.
She said around 400 more tonnes of waste would be recycled a month at the Northern Ireland facility.
Cllr Moore added that while recycling was better than sending waste to landfill, she said it was “not a panacea” and highlighted the waste hierarchy of reducing waste and reusing things first.
The amendment calling for the committee to ask for the contract to be deferred did not gain enough support to pass.
