Text Only   A   A
 The Waste collected by our seven constituent boroughs is disposed of by the North London Waste Authority

North London Joint Waste Strategy
This strategy will be used to facilitate the procurement of new waste management services to increase recycling and recovery and divert more waste from disposal to landfill.

Click to read all about our strategy

Prior to 2004 the Authority and its seven borough partners had written a strategy which enabled the Authority to develop a range of services for managing waste. These services included waste transfer, incineration with electricity generation and landfill which were provided by signing a 20 year ‘main waste disposal contract’ with LondonWaste Ltd. (which runs until 2014).

However, this contract was also designed so as not to constrain the Authority or its constituent boroughs in adopting an integrated approach to waste management. The main provisions within the contract to enable this were: -

  • No minimum tonnage requirements (Since December 1999)
  • No restrictions on the amount of waste that the boroughs can recycle

This means that a number of alternative routes for material have also been developed, including a new composting plant situated at Edmonton in the London Borough of Enfield and recycling provided through third party recycling facilities elsewhere.

‘Mayor’s Draft’ North London Joint Waste Strategy, September 200

In 2004 the Authority and its seven borough partners prepared a new draft Joint Waste Strategy which set out the partners’ plans for the further period until 2020.This new strategy – The North London Joint Waste Strategy, Mayor’s Draft, September 2004 – has since been used as the framework for the development of services, although it was never formally adopted. There were delays in the approval by all partners that had to be overcome, and comments were then received from the Mayor of London by the end of 2006.; during which time it had become necessary to undertake a ‘strategic environmental assessment’ – which is now in its final consultation phase.

Strategic Environmental Assessment of the North London Joint Waste Strategy

Public consultation on the North London Joint Waste Strategy took place when it was first being developed in 2004. However, a retrospective Strategic Environmental Assessment or ‘SEA’ is now required, because the joint strategy had not been formally adopted by the deadline date in 2006, and as part of this process further public consultation is now required.

A SEA is essentially an environmental review of a draft strategy. It identifies and assesses the likely key environmental impacts of the draft strategy and makes recommendations for changes to the strategy to reduce the environmental impact. The findings of the SEA process should be incorporated into the final strategy that is produced. Public consultation forms part of the SEA process.

Once formally adopted the North London Joint Waste Strategy will be used to facilitate the procurement of new waste management services to increase recycling and recovery and divert more waste away from disposal to landfill. The ‘North London Joint Waste Strategy’ also sets out the framework for how waste will be managed when the Authority’s current ‘main waste disposal contract’ comes to an end in 2014. It is anticipated that the strategy will be formally adopted in 2008 following the retrospective Strategic Environmental Assessment or SEA. 

Public Consultation Process

Public consultation is currently being undertaken on the revisions to the draft North London Joint Waste Strategy resulting from the SEA and on the SEA Environmental Report which has been produced as a result of the process.

Chapter 6 of the North London Joint Waste Strategy has been completely re-written as a result of the SEA. Many of the other changes to the strategy are updates to data or made as a result of legislative changes.

You can access the following documents below; a series of questions and answers on the process follows.

Questions and Answers About The Process

What is the consultation about?

The consultation process is seeking residents’ and other stakeholders’ views on proposed revisions to the North London Joint Waste Strategy and the results of an environmental impact assessment (strategic environmental assessment – SEA) of the strategy.

When was the North London Joint Waste Strategy produced?

The ‘Mayor’s Draft’ of the North London Joint Waste Strategy was first approved in September 2004; it is now proposed to update it with a strategic environmental assessment.

Why are you changing it?

New legislation has come into force which requires certain strategies to be subjected to a ‘strategic environmental assessment’ or SEA before they can be adopted. A SEA has just been undertaken of the draft North London Joint Waste Strategy and changes are proposed to the strategy as a result. The SEA legislation requires public consultation to be undertaken as part of the process.

The draft North London Joint Waste Strategy also makes a commitment to regular reviews and updates.

What is the North London Joint Waste Strategy?

The North London Joint Waste Strategy is the joint waste strategy for the London boroughs of Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Hackney, Haringey, Islington and Waltham Forest and the North London Waste Authority (which arranges the disposal of waste collected by these seven London Boroughs). It sets out how the partners will manage the waste that they collect from households and businesses in the area until 2020.

The strategy also sets out the roles of the London Boroughs (as ‘waste collection authorities’) and the North London Waste Authority (as the ‘waste disposal authority’), and how collectively the partners will seek to reduce the amount of waste being generated, and recycle, compost, recover energy and dispose of the waste that is produced in North London over the next 12 years.

How do I know what changes are proposed to the Strategy?

All proposed changes to the strategy are highlighted in grey and printed in italics in the ‘SEA Draft’ North London Joint Waste Strategy.

Can I see a copy of the 2004 draft of the Strategy?

You can view a copy of the September 2004, ‘Mayor’s Draft’ of the North London Joint Waste Strategy on the North London Waste Authority website at www.nlwa.gov.uk or can alternatively be sent a printed copy of the strategy by contacting:

Barbara Herridge
Policy and Development Manager
Tel: 020 8489 5654
Fax: 020 8365 0254
Click here to email

North London Waste Authority
Lee Valley Technopark
Unit 169, Ashley Road
Tottenham
N17 9LN

What is a strategic environmental assessment?

A SEA is essentially an environmental review of a draft strategy. It identifies and assesses the likely environmental impacts of the draft strategy and makes recommendations for changes to reduce environmental impact. The findings of the SEA process should be incorporated into the final strategy that is produced. Public consultation forms part of the SEA process.

What is the SEA process?

SEA has a number of stages:

  • The first stage is to prepare a scoping report setting out what the process will cover. The scoping report must be sent to a number of statutory consultees for comment before it is finalised.
  • Once the scope of the SEA has been finalised a SEA environmental report must be produced and issued for public consultation, along with the strategy on which the SEA is being undertaken.
  • Following consideration of the comments received via the public consultation process, the draft strategy must be revised.
  • Then, both the strategy and accompanying environmental report must be adopted.
  • Ongoing environmental monitoring of the strategy must be undertaken as it is implemented to ensure that environmental impacts are minimised.

Section 2 of the SEA scoping report which is on the North London Waste Authority website (NLWA - The North London Waste Authority - Waste disposal and recycling initiatives for the seven north London boroughs.), outlines the stages involved in SEA and may provide a useful guide regarding the different aspects of the process.

How long is the public consultation lasting?

The public consultation on the strategy and the environmental report is for 6 weeks. This means responses must be submitted no later than Tuesday 17th June 2008.

I thought public consultation had to be for 12 weeks?

The strategic environmental assessment regulations require a 6 week public consultation period.

When the first draft of North London Joint Waste Strategy was produced in 2004 public consultation was undertaken then. This second round of consultation is simply on the proposed changes to the strategy and the environmental report.

What happens after the public consultation?

After the public consultation a summary of comments received will be produced and any further changes made to the North London Joint Waste Strategy made as a result.

Is the North London Joint Waste Strategy the same as the North London Waste Plan?

No, these are two separate documents.

The North London Waste Plan is about the use of land and it will identify suitable sites for new waste facilities. The North London Waste Plan is being prepared by the same London Boroughs as the North London Joint Waste Strategy, but in their separate capacity as planning authorities and it will set the land use planning framework for siting waste facilities in North London up until 2020, i.e. it will identify ‘where’ facilities will be located. Moreover, it will do this for all waste arising in North London, whether household, commercial, industrial, construction, demolition, clinical etc. The website for North London Waste Plan is www.nlwp.net.

The North London Joint Waste Strategy sets out ‘how’ waste will be managed in the same period and it relates only to the waste collected by the seven London Borough Councils, which will be about a quarter of the total amount of waste considered within the North London Waste Plan.

Whilst the North London Joint Waste Strategy provides a key input into the North London Waste Plan, the two documents and processes are separate. Sustainability appraisal, which is being undertaken on the North London Waste Plan is also a slightly different process to SEA.

Is the North London Joint Waste Strategy proposing more incinerators in North London?

Chapter 6 of the strategy sets out 5 different potential combinations of new facilities that may be required for managing waste until 2020. These are not firm proposals for new facilities, but are included in the strategy to show combinations of facilities for North London that would be able to provide the necessary services in an acceptable way from various perspectives. The estimated costs and environmental impacts of each combination of facilities are included.

All 5 options include building a mix of new facilities including recycling and composting plants. Different types of thermal treatment facilities, including incineration and gasification are also included as alternatives to landfill. Question 4 invites comments on which combination of facilities you think is the best.

What is the authorities’ policy on incineration?

Implementation Action 6B of the draft revised strategy sets out the partners’ proposed new approach. Question 2 of the consultation asks if you agree with the revisions to the policies and implementation actions in the strategy.

6.B - The best option for North London will involve achievement of 50% recycling and composting rates by 2020, with treatment of the residual waste not being landfilled provided initially through the existing Energy from Waste incineration facility, and later through processing capacity, giving preference to advanced conversion technologies, especially where the products of waste treatment could be used as fuels, that are the best overall option taking account of net environmental impact, deliverability, reliability and affordability, looking at implied collection services too.

Where are you going to build the new waste facilities that are needed?

At the moment no specific sites or facilities are proposed. The North London Waste Plan (which is a separate document), will set the waste land-use planning framework for North London and will identify potentially suitable sites for new waste management activities and establish ‘where’ new facilities might go in the future. At this stage the first ‘Issues and Options’ report for the North London Waste Plan simply outlines some ‘broad locations’ that have been identified by the London Mayor as potentially suitable and views have been sought on these. Additional consultation on the plan will be undertaken shortly. Further information on the North London Waste Plan can be obtained from the website North London Waste Plan (www.nlwp.net). Any new waste facilities will require planning permission and the relevant planning applications will be consulted on in accordance with that borough’s usual consultation standards.

How is my borough/local area affected?

The North London Joint Waste Strategy sets out how all the seven North London boroughs and the North London Waste Authority will be changing the way in which waste is managed over the next 12 years. For local areas this means more efforts to recycle and compost more waste, potentially additional local facilities and more investment in waste management across the area. Consultation will be undertaken when changes are proposed which might affect local residents.

Where do I get further information?

For further information on the development of the North London Joint Waste Strategy, the SEA please contact:

Barbara Herridge
Policy and Development Manager
Tel: 020 8489 5654
Fax: 020 8365 0254
Click here to email

North London Waste Authority
Lee Valley Technopark
Unit 169, Ashley Road
Tottenham
N17 9LN

For information on your local recycling services, please contact your local borough.

^ back to top