Continuing decline in landfill proposals

Latest figures from BDS Marketing Research confirm growth in alternative methods of waste treatment

OF all planning applications submitted during 2012 for new waste facilities, just 5% related to landfill, according to BDS Marketing Research Ltd, who monitor planning applications and consents for all waste facilities, on a daily basis.

The consultancy says this confirms the steady decline in this sector, with waste increasingly being treated at other facilities.

‘When we first started monitoring proposals for new waste facilities more than 20 years ago, the vast majority referred to landfill,’ commented Julian Clapp, principal consultant at BDS.

‘Of the consents that were granted at landfill sites [in 2012], typically these related to time extensions, rather than expansion of void space. Planning permissions for additional void at landfill sites taking municipal waste are now rare.

‘More than a half of planning consents granted in 2012 related to MRFs and other recycling facilities, and transfer stations. These are either new facilities or extensions to existing sites.’

The growth of anaerobic digestion facilities is also confirmed in the latest figures from BDS. These now represent more than 10% of waste facilities.

Moreover, waste-management companies continue to be largely successful in obtaining consent for new facilities.

Out of around 800 planning applications picked up by BDS during 2012, more than a half were consented, while a quarter remain to be decided and 15% were either refused or withdrawn.

For further information contact BDS Marketing.