TRANSPORT AND TECHNICAL SERVICES DEPARTMENT
BUDGET TRANSFERS
Purpose of Report
The purpose of this report is to seek the Minister for Transport and Technical Services approval to:
(a) a change in the use of the funds allocated from an enclosed composting facility to an improved open green waste site which conforms to regulatory standards at a substantially reduced cost: and
(b) a budget transfer from Capital Vote C2682 – In-Vessel Composting of the unspent monies of £2.4m to revenue to fund disposal of asbestos and provide planning monies for the liquid waste strategy.
Background
Finance Direction No.3.6 ‘Variations to Heads of Expenditure’ sets out the procedures for the transfers between capital heads of expenditure and states that transfers of capital in excess of £100,000 require the approval of the Minister for Treasury and Resources and the relevant Minister party to the transfer.
Discussion
Following approval of the Solid Waste Strategy (P72/2008) the Department was allocated a budget of £4.212 Million in 2006 for the development of an enclosed composting facility. In addition to this, during February 2008, £0.337m was transferred from Capital Vote C2695 to C2682. At the time of developing the Solid Waste Strategy, enclosure was believed to be the most appropriate means for managing the odour issues at the unenclosed windrow compost facility.
Following extensive consultation, review and assessment, as set out below, it has been established that enclosure is not the best option both operationally and financially. The preferred option is an unenclosed green waste facility with significant improvements as set out below.
An extensive site selection and evaluation process considering public and private sites resulted in the Minister for Transport and Technical Services approving La Collette as the best available site for the composting process in November 2007.
Following extensive searches, the Department’s technical adviser - Fichtner Consulting Engineers Limited - were able to confirm that there were no known operating enclosed composting facilities that only composted commercial and public green waste.
Site visits to the UK were carried out in January 2008 and February 2009, to assess and consider various enclosed compost site solutions.
Even the latest fully enclosed facilities employing Best Available Technology and with good site management practices had noticeable on site and occasional off site odour complaints. These could partially be attributed to the types of waste composted, but were also a factor of the nature of such facilities - doors were left open, reception of wastes had associated odours and air fans and bio-filters still emitted odours.
A review of the cost of such facilities suggested that a fully enclosed facility of the type that offered the most suitable solution for Jersey - an enclosed tunnel system - would cost in excess of £7 million. This was in excess of £3 million more than the allocated budget.
Scope Adjustments
The developing regeneration plans for the East of Albert area - encompassing the La Collette compost site - meant that the scope of the enclosed facility also changed. Solutions which could be relocated to an alternative composting site were preferred, as the site could not be guaranteed for the 15 - 20 year design life necessary to justify the investment in a concrete tunnel system.
To match these dual requirements, attention switched in the winter of 2008 to looking at a more affordable poly-ethylene “marquee” type roof system, which could be potentially redeployed, together with a proven under-floor aeration system, which had worked well on green wastes elsewhere.
Examples of enclosed marquee systems composting sludge and kitchen wastes as well as green waste were reviewed in September 2009. Investigations suggested that no supplier would provide a turn-key solution with the necessary guarantees to justify investment on an untried solution, which if unsuccessful would not have addressed the key priority - odour control.
Therefore there was a high risk of an enclosed facility not being suitable for composting public and commercial green wastes, which by their nature have higher carbon to nitrogen ratios than kitchen vegetable waste and sludge. Crucially, the process could not be guaranteed to be efficient, effective and could potentially even enhance odour problems. A review of the unwillingness of supermarkets to accept waste derived compost on food land in the summer of 2008 confirmed that this was unlikely to change in the foreseeable future.
Collectively, this information confirmed concerns that composting the current Jersey waste stream within an enclosed facility could not be justified.
This together with increasing confidence that improvements to the existing un-enclosed facility could result in good odour control and compliance with the test of best practicable means meant that an enclosed facility is no longer considered the optimal solution for addressing odour issues.
Preferred Way Forward
Following consultation with the relevant Regulators in May 2009, TTS implemented a phased ‘Odour Management Strategy’ of site improvement works to ameliorate operational practices together with a comprehensive Odour Monitoring Programme. The first phase of the programme, involved the commencement in June 2009 of daily odour monitoring, which has subsequently continued for over a year.
At the same time a review of all relevant UK regulatory and good practice guidance was conducted. The compliance of the site against this guidance was reviewed with the Regulators. This review suggested improvements in operational practices and site configuration could have more significant benefits on odour management than enclosure. These assumptions were tested during site visits in September and October 2009.
Management improvements were introduced on the site between July and September 2009. These management improvements included:
Closer monitoring of deliveries to identify and treat odorous loads
Closer concentration on blending loads during shredding to encourage a better carbon to nitrogen balance
A change to “just in time” shredding of received green waste into windrows to prevent anaerobic conditions arising within the unshredded waste
Use of an excavator to turn the windrows enabling better mixing of material than can be achieved by a mechanical shovel
A lowering of windrow height to a maximum of 2.5m and the reorientation of windrows from an east to west layout to a north to south layout, thus reducing the exposed surface area and odour potential
Better management of moisture addition to prevent pockets of anaerobic material from forming
Constant temperature monitoring using probes with three sensors to enable turning of the windrows at the optimal time i.e. when stabilisation of the compost has occurred
Aeration of the leachate lagoon to prevent anaerobic activity
Clearance of accumulated materials in gullies and on aprons
Better management organisation of maintenance of key plant and recognition of the need for rapid repair maintenance regimes where standby equipment is unavailable
Daily odour monitoring has now successfully been carried out for 15 months in accordance with the Odour Monitoring Strategy agreed with Regulators in May 2009. During that time only one public complaint has been received, on the 29 June 2009, which was at the start of the site improvement programme, and which was the result of both the duty and standby shredder failing. Measures have been put in place to manage maintenance since that time.
To embed the improvements in odour management achieved, it is proposed to introduce the following improvements at the site:
Increased processing slab area to enable the shredding and screening to happen off the main composting slab. This will enable the maximum area for windrow turning to be available, preventing the risk of over height windrows which can be the cause of anaerobic odour generation. It will also enable the separate storage of different green waste materials to facilitate better blending of carbon and nitrogen rich materials.
Introduction of a straddle windrow turner. This will enable faster and more consistent turning of the composting material improving the efficiency and will also enable more consistent addition of moisture to the compost.
Introduction of a covered screener or star screen that will not issue as much odour during the screening process.
Introduction of a 3 metre high perimeter bank around the site to minimise air flow off site.
Introduction of an adjustable height perimeter misting system and mobile misting units to reduce odour and bioaerosol emission from site
Improvements to the existing leachate lagoon to introduce multiple stages which will improve and make more efficient aeration and enable removal of potentially anaerobic silts.
These improvements can be carried out within the existing planning consents for the composting operations, but modifications to the Waste Management Working Plan will be required and the Regulator of the Waste Management (Jersey) Law will require the Health Protection Regulator to agree extension of planning consent for the operation before a Waste Management Licence can be issued, which the Regulators have indicated is likely to be granted.
There are likely to be considerable reductions in on-site and off-site generation of potentially harmful bio-aerosols as a result of the proposed improvements. Generation of bio-aerosols are a significant risk on compost sites and the proposed improvements are likely to enable demonstration of compliance with UK equivalent monitoring levels.
The use of the allocated budget for the green waste improvements proposed will remove the risk of a statutory abatement notice being reinstated by the Health Protection Regulator and should prevent future odour problems whilst containing revenue costs and serve the purposes of a fully enclosed facility at substantially less costs.
Following the implementation of the improvements mentioned above, it is expected that the capital costs for the project will be £1.65m, resulting in unspent budget of £2.4m.
Use of unspent monies (Permanently disposing of stored asbestos)
The department has previously unsuccessfully bid for capital allocation for the permanent disposal of asbestos which is currently stored in over 200 ex shipping containers at La Collette. The department has continually highlighted this as a funding pressure and has identified the risk of an asbestos breach owing to not having a safe long term asbestos disposal process on the department’s risk register.
During 2009 and 2010, the roof of containers storing the asbestos collapsed due to severe corrosion that led to the bagged contents being exposed to the atmosphere.
It is expected that these incidents will occur on a more frequent basis in the near future as there are many more containers with a similar age profile. In addition to this, the bags used to wrap the contents and prevent fibres being released to the atmosphere are not believed to be stable in the presence of sunlight, which could lead to bag failure if not identified at an early stage.
A number of options have been considered in a recent feasibility report and the department is currently awaiting planning permission following the outcome of an Environmental Impact Assessment and Statement which determined that the favoured long term disposal strategy was to transfer the stored asbestos from the containers into a mono-cell at La Collette. All of the Statutory Regulators are fully supportive of the proposal and have been included in the decision process.
As the containers’ condition will continue to deteriorate, funding to process 200 containers in as short a timeframe as possible (12 months), the department would like to use part of the underspend mentioned above to fund this project. The expected costs for the works are estimated to be £1.85m.
Further use of unspent monies (Funding the Liquid waste Strategy)
If the above is agreed by the Minister, £0.55m will remain unspent, and as the aging Sewage Treatment Works requires significant financial investment, the case is set out below for the use of the remaining unspent funds.
Feasibility work on the development of a Liquid Waste Strategy has been undertaken during 2008 and 2009 to the point where a draft green paper has been issued for stakeholder consultation in the Spring of 2010.
This sets out the investment needed to replace the aging Sewage Treatment Works, upgrade the treatment technology to meet higher environmental and health demands now required by legislation and to maintain and improve the drainage infrastructure network to an acceptable standard.
Substantial and timely investment of capital funding is necessary to avoid deterioration of the assets to the point where they become critical and to avoid environmental or health regulatory enforcement action.
Further work to develop the strategy past green paper stage can not continue unless a funding stream is identified to fund the continued development of this strategy. It is proposed that the £0.55m is used to develop the strategy up to white paper stage and submission to the States.
Conclusion
The States of Jersey allocated the capital budget C2682 to address odour problems at La Collette via an enclosed facility. The change in use of the allocated budget to an improved unenclosed green waste facility will release monies to cover departmental pressures for the disposal of asbestos and the Liquid Waste Strategy development proposed will enable the progression of a key strategic priority for the States and be an effective use of these funds which must otherwise be allocated from front line capital provisions.
The table below highlights the movement from the existing capital programme to the revised programme.
Table 1
Capital Vote | Existing Allocation £’million | Revised Allocation £’million |
C2682 In-Vessel Composting | £4.55 | |
Current expenditure | (£0.50) | |
Remaining budget | | £1.65 |
Asbestos Disposal | | £1.85 |
Liquid Waste Strategy | | £0.55 |
Total | £4.05 | £4.05 |
Recommendations
That the Minister approves:
(a) the change in use of the budget; and
(b) the budget transfer of £2.4m as detailed in Table 1, to enable the department to obtain the most economic, efficient and effective results.
Written by: | Senior Management Accountant |
Approved by: | Acting Finance Director |
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