Briefing: Waste management in Manchester, UK – planning for success

Abstract

The Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority in the UK set out in 2003 to make a significant move up the waste hierarchy. With a population of over 2·27 million people and an annual municipal waste volume of up to 1·5 Mt across nine local authorities, Europe’s largest ever public sector waste procurement project was an ambitious programme from the start. The plans included the development of a range of new facilities which would process Greater Manchester’s municipal waste for the next 25 years and lead the way in intelligent waste resource management.

Editorial

“…In the third briefing paper in this issue Mitchell (2012) presents a case study of Europe's largest public sector waste procurement project, located around Greater Manchester, UK. The nature of the planning challenge is examined for the waste treatment processes involved, which include in-vessel composting, materials reclamation, and mechanical-biological treatment allied with anaerobic digestion, with energy from waste for residual waste.…”