The South London Waste Partnership Joint Committee met to discuss communications and engagement, contract performance, and budget updates. The committee approved the proposed management budget for 2026/27 and noted reports on communications, contract performance, and the budget update for 2025/26. Additionally, the committee addressed concerns raised by Councillor Dave Chill regarding emissions from the Beddington Energy Recovery Facility.

Here's a breakdown of the key discussion points:

Beddington Energy Recovery Facility (ERF) Emissions

Councillor Dave Chill, a councillor who is not a member of the committee, raised concerns about emissions and serious incidents from the Beddington ERF, particularly regarding acrid smells reported by residents. He questioned whether the South London Waste Partnership (SLWP) deemed the number of emissions and serious incidents to be reasonable when the facility was initiated.

The committee responded that in 2009, the four South London Waste Partnership boroughs agreed to jointly commission a new service that would replace the disposal of residual waste at the landfill site on Beddington Lane. The boroughs were location and technology neutral, and Viridor's proposal to build and operate an energy recovery facility (ERF) at the Beddington site was the outcome of a robust procurement process.

The SLWP expects the Beddington ERF to operate at the highest standards, complying with permit conditions issued and regulated by the Environment Agency (EA). While the facility is not currently operating in compliance bands A or B due to historic performance issues, the SLWP is working with the EA and Viridor to improve the situation. It was noted that since the Beddington ERF started operating in 2019, there has never been an emissions exceedance that the EA considers to have caused a significant environmental effect. All emission exceedances have been categorised as either Category 4 non-compliances (no potential environmental effect) or Category 3 (minor potential environmental effect).

The SLWP will continue to use all contractual levers available to ensure that Beddington ERF provides a safe, cost-effective, and environmentally sustainable alternative to landfill. The Environment Agency has statutory responsibility for regulating the environmental performance of ERFs across the country.

Councillor Scott Roche raised concerns about the NOx calibration issues at the Beddington ERF and asked about the next steps for investigation by the EA. He also asked for confirmation that the recent increase for sulfur dioxide last October was due to abnormal operations and didn't require reporting as it was not seen as a significant exceedance.

The committee responded that the EA's next steps were to receive and review clarifications from Viridor and updated operating procedures to prevent a recurrence of the NOx calibration issue. Viridor submitted these, and the EA conducted a site visit in early October. The EA requested further information and set a deadline of the end of December for Viridor to submit updated operating procedures. Another audit will be undertaken in either January or February.

Regarding the sulfur dioxide exceedance in October, this was caused by an error in waste received at the facility and was reported as an abnormal operation due to an issue with the abatement system¹. The EA is looking at this, and a compliance assessment report will likely address it by the end of the year.

Councillor Isabel Araujo, Vice Chair of the Environment and Sustainable Transport Committee, asked if there was any lasting harm from the dates when smells were reported or alarms went off. The committee responded that it can be difficult to establish a clear link between smells and the ERF, as there are many facilities with EA permits for waste treatment in close proximity. Residents are encouraged to report any smells or issues to both the Sutton Council environmental health team and Viridor, but often complaints are not substantiated due to the issues being gone by the time an officer arrives to investigate.

Communications and Engagement Update

John Haynes, SLWP Communications Advisor, presented the Communications and Engagement Update, which covered activities between May and October 2025. The report highlighted the SLWP's communications and engagement strategy for 2025-2030, Waste Watch, facility tours, social value, carbon emissions, Beddington ERF, Household Reuse and Recycling Centres (HRRCs), and the SLWP website.

Key points from the report included:

• The 'What's Your Plastic Solution' campaign has ended, but the artwork remains available for boroughs to use.
• The SLWP is seeking external funding for sub-regional campaigns.
• The first edition of Waste Watch, covering April 2023 to March 2024, has been published on the SLWP website.
• Facility tours of the Veolia-operated Materials Recycling Facility (MRF) and the Viridor-operated Beddington Energy Recovery Facility (ERF) have taken place.
• The SLWP is trialling the SLWP Community Reuse Scheme, which combines social value funding from the Veolia HRRC and recycling processing contracts to fund the collection and refurbishment of reuse items collected in the boroughs and deliver these refurbished items to residents in need.
• Significant progress has been made in establishing a carbon emissions baseline for the SLWP residual waste treatment contract, with Viridor providing an updated (2017) baseline and draft annual reports for the calendar years 2019-2023.
• The SLWP has worked with the partner boroughs, the Environment Agency and Viridor to ensure the NOx calibration error issue was accurately and effectively communicated to residents and stakeholders.
• The SLWP has put forward suggestions of tangible actions that Viridor could take to help restore trust and confidence in the ERF amongst the local community, including withdrawing the application to the EA to be allowed to treat more waste at the facility, providing funds for local air quality improvement projects and investing in more in community engagement activities.
• The SLWP boroughs are considering a recommendation that the HRRC services continue to be jointly commissioned and managed.
• The SLWP website was updated in May 2025, and new sections were created to host the 'Waste Watch' reports and the new performance reports.

Councillor Roche asked for reassurance that there was no lasting harm from the Beddington ERF.

Contracts Performance Report

Simon Bussell, Head of Contracts, presented the Contracts Performance Report, which provided an update on the performance of the transfer, treatment, recycling, and disposal services managed by the SLWP. The report covered food and green waste treatment services, Household Reuse and Recycling Centre (HRRC) services, residual waste treatment services, and dry recyclables management.

Key points from the report included:

• Food waste tonnage decreased by 6%, while garden waste decreased by 17.8% due to the dry summer.
• Recycling performance at HRRC sites increased slightly to 68.7%.
• Volumes of materials collected at HRRC sites increased by 6%.
• The SLWP is not progressing with mattress recycling due to limited recycling performance and high costs.
• The facility availability at the Beddington ERF was good, with 87% overall availability and 97.7% availability outside of the planned maintenance shutdown.
• There was one emissions exceedance of carbon monoxide on line two in May and a sulfur dioxide exceedance in October.
• The EA concluded its investigation into the NOx calibration issue and determined that there was no significant health impact.
• The new dry recyclables management contracts have been operating well since April.
• Contamination levels in collected paper/card and container mix are low.

Councillor Roche reiterated the council's opposition to the permit extension for the ERF, and requested that this position be communicated to the EA. He also asked about the asset replacement program under the new contract, and whether this included redesigning the recycling containment.

The committee responded that the EA is waiting for their investigation to conclude before issuing a final decision on the permit variation, and that the SLWP has made its position clear and requested that Viridor withdraw the permit variation. The SLWP will continue to apply contractual levers for every exceedance and work with the EA to ensure the service operates at 100% performance. The asset replacement program is for the larger waste containers used for residual waste, garden waste, and scrap metal at the household reuse and recycling centres, not for individual household containers.

Councillor Tom Reeve asked about mattresses, and whether memory foam was an issue for recycling. He also asked about where waste was sent when the ERF was closed, and whether there was an extra cost.

The committee responded that memory foam does reduce the recycling rate, as the majority of recycling comes from scrap metal. The waste during the ERF closure was sent to a landfill in Buckinghamshire, and there was no extra cost to the council.

Councillor Robert Ward raised concerns about the amount of time vehicles spend queuing to enter the energy recovery facility.

The committee responded that the average queuing time is 15-20 minutes, but there are peak times when it can be longer. They are working with Viridor to reduce queuing times, but it is difficult to avoid due to different collection schedules across the boroughs.

Budget Update 2025/26

Francesco Grieco, Head of Finance & Business Intelligence, presented the Budget Update for 2025/26, reporting a forecast overspend of £20,575 against the approved budget. The overspend was attributed to unbudgeted legal costs (£9,493) and an overspend in the core activity budget (£11,082).

The overspend in the core staff budget line was due to the NJC Pay Award for Local Government Services for 2025/26, which was higher than the estimated uplift included in the approved budget. There was also an overspend in relation to the three SLWP document management systems due to increased subscription costs.

Proposed Management Budget 2026/27

Andrea Keys, SLWP Partnership Director, presented the proposed SLWP Management Budget for 2026/27, recommending approval of a £707,000 budget, representing an annual cost of £177,000 per borough and an increase of just under £16,000 per borough on the previous year.

The £16,000 per borough increase comes from a new legal budget of £7,500 per borough, an estimated 3.5% inflation applied to staffing costs equating to just over £8,000 per borough, and an annual increase of £366 per borough for data and storage costs. The proposed budget will enable the SLWP to continue to commission and manage the delegated services and deliver the key actions and objectives set out in the SLWP Work Programme 2025-30. The SLWP will agree with borough officers a Savings and Income Strategy will incorporate an agreed list of savings and income activities the SLWP will deliver during the period 2025 to 2030. The strategy will include a target to reduce the base cost of our treatment and disposal services over that same period.

Councillor Roche asked about the budget detail in appendix 3.1, and why the amounts were different from what was in the report.

The committee responded that the agenda order had been changed, and the numbering from the email was incorrect.

The committee approved the proposed management budget for 2026/27.