Weaknesses in region's waste system, meeting told

3 hours ago

Phil ShepkaCambridgeshire political reporter

News image — Dry recycling from Cambridgeshire has been transported to Newry, Northern Ireland, since March 2025

Reuters A collection of plastic milk bottles, metal containers and tin foil in a heap against a black background. The pile also includes a shampoo and drinks bottles. — Dry recycling from Cambridgeshire has been transported to Newry, Northern Ireland, since March 2025

The East of England - where some councils send recycling more than 400 miles away - has "weaknesses" in its waste infrastructure, a meeting has heard.

Cambridge City Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council's recycling waste has been transported to Newry in Northern Ireland since March 2025.

Bryony Rothwell, waste partnership manager for Recycling in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough (RECAP), told a Cambridgeshire County Council meeting it was "nationally recognised" the East of England did not have enough capacity for particular materials.

She said her teams were considering potentially building and operating a facility themselves.

The RECAP waste partnership is made up of all the local authorities in Cambridgeshire and the unitary authority of Peterborough.

Thursday's environment and green investment committee endorsed a new RECAP waste strategy, which according to council papers, aims to "reduce levels of waste within the county by 2031 and also increase the capture of recycling, all aimed at reducing reliance on landfill".

The Labour administration at Cambridge City Council has said that the Newry-based waste management firm Re-Gen offered the best option on cost and processing quality.

Cambridgeshire County Council Screengrab of a YouTube livestream from Cambridgshire County Council. Bryony Rothwell is sat at a white table with a laptop and microphone in front of her, and some turquoise chairs behind her. She has brunette hair, is wearing glasses and a turquoise dress. — Bryony Rothwell said it would be a "long journey" should the RECAP team decide to build its own facility

Green councillor Darren Green questioned whether the strategy would address the issue of transporting waste a long distance for reprocessing.

Rothwell responded: "The strategy does give a sense of direction from the partnership, which is acknowledging the weaknesses within infrastructure within the East of England.

"It's been nationally recognised that we don't have sufficient waste capacity for particular materials, such as dry mixed and recycling."

She continued: "We recognise that that is a long journey to potentially build and operate a facility… but that's something that the strategy was aiming to explore and see whether it is viable or whether we'd need to carry on going through the mainstream and the market providing solutions for us."

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