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In a report to members of October’s Environmental Services Committee, director of Environmental Services, Aidan McPeake, explained that until July, all green waste received via household recycling centres and at Letterloan Composting Facility was composted on-site. However, on-site compost production ceased following damage to the shredder, and green waste received by council is currently collected and processed by Natural World Products (NWP). Under the terms of the bio-waste contract with NWP, council can request up to 10% of the contract waste annually and, while the processing charge is included within the “gate fee” with NWP, a charge is applicable for the hauling of processed compost to Letterloan. Due to this increased expenditure, members were asked to approve a price increase for compost on sale at Letterloan from £12 per tonne to £20 per tonne, as well as setting a purchase limit of one tonne per visit. Mr McPeake added: “This is basically cost recovery, and the company charging us has been reflected in that increased cost, otherwise council’s going to take a hit and [pass on] the composting rate to the general public. “We think (£20 per tonne) is a fair price and if you were to buy the product anywhere else, it is significantly more, so I still think it’s good value. That’s why we’re limiting it to one tonne per visit, because we expect a significant demand even at that price. “At this moment we’re working on a business case for a replacement (shredder), there’s a significant cost, so until we complete that this is the proposal for going forward.” Alliance Councillor Lee Kane argued the “focus should be repairing or replacing equipment”. “We’re being asked to increase the price by 66% which is a huge hike when we don’t have a plan for the long term,” he said. “We shouldn’t be having this conversation at this stage, we need a wider plan – are we going to replace the equipment, are we going to repair the equipment, what’s the cost and how can it be factored into a longer-term solution?” Mr McPeake said he expected a business case imminently and the proposal was to “tide us over” until then. DUP Councillor Dawn Huggins successfully proposed that council increase the price until the business case for the new shredder is presented.
