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Overview of the ProblemThe following section reviews the requirements for minerals and waste management. It also considers the external factors that effect how we have to respond to planning for future needs. The Need for New Minerals Aggregates like sand, gravel and crushed rock are essential raw materials for constructing and repairing new homes and factories, roads and hospitals. Aggregates can be dug from the ground (land-won) or dredged offshore from the sea and landed at wharves (marine). In Hampshire we have large reserves of sand and gravel but limited rock deposits (although their are environmental constraints on extraction). Imports of crushed rock therefore come from the Mendips (rail) and Scotland (sea). Other minerals such as chalk, clay, oil and gas exist in our area on an economically viable scale but are extracted in relatively small volumes. Current policies for minerals and aggregates are set out in the Minerals & Waste Local Plan 1998-2001. Hampshire, Southampton and Portsmouth consume about 5 million tonnes of aggregates each year including some supplies to adjacent counties. Consumption has remained relatively stable over the past decade, despite the local economy growing by 2.8 % per annum. This suggests resource efficiency is improving and there has been a decoupling of mineral use from economic growth. This trend is also reflected in national statistics.
There is a trend of a decreasing contribution from land-won sources, from a peak extraction rate of over 3 million tonnes per annum in 1989 to just under 2 million tonnes in 2003, and importation by rail. These reductions have been offset by increasing supplies from marine imports. Recycled Aggregates Recycled and secondary aggregates reduce the demand for new or primary aggregates. In April 2002 the Government introduced an Aggregate Levy (currently £1.60 per tonne) as an environmental tax to reduce the impacts of mineral extraction and help make the use of recycled materials more viable. There is limited historic data relating to levels of supply of recycled materials. The best available information indicates that approximately 500,000 tonnes per annum of construction, demolition and excavation wastes were recycled as aggregate in 2002. This amounted to 33% of construction, demolition and excavation wastes being sent to regulated waste management sites. In 2004 a further 40,000 tonnes per annum (8%) was reused and recycled through a highway maintenance waste initiative undertaken by Hampshire County Council and contractors Raynesway Construction and Foster Yeoman. Planning for Aggregates The national supply of minerals is controlled by a ‘top down’ system of apportionment to meet the needs of the nation as a whole. This means the Government makes an assessment of national needs and directs each region as to the amount they should supply. The regions then split the regional figures down into Mineral Planning Area (MPA) ‘apportionments’ applicable to areas such as Hampshire, Portsmouth and Southampton. Presently this apportionment system only applies to the supply of land-won aggregates. Licences for marine aggregates are managed nationally. Local MPAs have to comply with Government and Regional guidance in meeting future demands for land-won sand and gravel. The guidance takes into account assumptions about the amount of construction waste that can be recycled, and aggregates dredged from the sea or imported from elsewhere. Our area has an apportionment of 2.7 million tonnes per annum for the period until 2006. We are obliged to maintain a reserve of consented capacity or landbank of at least 7 years’ supply at this rate. As of January 2003, the actual landbank was 5 years. The sub-regional apportionments are being revised in a new Regional Minerals Strategy, which will form part of the South East Plan. As a result of an examination in public into the Regional Minerals Strategy, the proposed apportionment for our area over the period to 2016 is currently 2.63 million tonnes per annum.
The Need for Waste Management
Hampshire, Portsmouth and Southampton produces about 5.7 million
tonnes of waste from commerce and industry, and households
each year. Whilst good figures are available for the municipal sector,
data on arisings and trends for the commercial and industrial sectors is
far less comprehensive. The best estimate that can be made of the
make-up of the overall waste quantity is set out in the table below: Estimated Waste Volumes by Category
Unlike minerals, there is no evidence of decoupling of waste volumes from economic growth. On the basis of available data, total waste arisings have increased by over 70% in the past 15 years, an annual growth rate of over 3%. During this time the population of our area has increased by approximately 5% and the number of new houses by about 1% per annum (5000-6000 new houses per year). The reasons for waste growth are complex and part of the increase could be the result of better accounting (data for South East England shows waste growth of 2.5% per annum over the past 5 years). It would seem however that historically waste growth has very broadly mirrored economic growth after taking account of population and household increases in the domestic sector. The draft South East Plan sets out a range of options for future house building. Allowing for this and continuation of historic trends, waste volumes could be about 9 million tonnes by 2020. Waste is managed through licensed waste management facilities, both in and outside our area, and at sites exempt from licensing. The main exempt activity is the use for engineering purposes of about one million tonnes of construction, demolition and excavation wastes. [Note: about one million tonnes of agricultural wastes (mainly manures) are not included in the overall figures as they are disposed on-farm and are also currently exempt from licensing.] In 1998/99 about a third of commercial and industrial waste was exported to other counties for disposal, but this figure is estimated to have increased to over two thirds in 2004 . In contrast, whilst a quarter of municipal waste was exported for landfill in 2001/02, amounts of this category exported are decreasing as new energy recovery incineration capacity comes on stream. The estimated life of the remaining landfill capacity at present usage rates, in our area is about 4.5 years for inert wastes and about 3.5 years for non-inert, as from winter 2004. Planning for Waste Management The legislation governing material resources is driven by a common framework which applies across the European Union. The European Commission (EC) is addressing the impacts of waste through a range of existing and forthcoming EC Directives that are being transposed into UK law. There are two main areas:
Local strategies for dealing with waste and resources must reflect
national and regional policies which implement the EC agenda. Key
national and regional targets are set out in the table below. The
challenging recycling and recovery targets reflect the need for
fundamental change, particularly a move away from landfill on
environmental grounds. National and Regional Waste Strategy Targets
Concerns are sometimes raised about the health effects of waste management options. The Government has recently published a comprehensive report that reviews health and environmental impacts for all options on the basis of all available information. The report concludes that the overall scale of emissions to air from waste management practices is relatively small compared with emissions from other sectors such as transport. On the evidence from studies so far, the treatment of municipal solid waste is considered to have, at most, a minor effect on health in the UK, particularly when compared with the other health risks associated with ordinary day-to-day living.
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