Wirral residents asked for their views on how to tackle six million tonnes of waste generated in Merseyside each year

Jun 9 2010 by Lorna Hughes, Birkenhead News

WIRRALIANS are being asked for their views on new plans to deal with the region’s waste.

Wirral Council has teamed up with local authorities in Knowsley, Halton, Liverpool, Sefton and St Helens and Wirral Councils to come up with ways to deal with the six million tonnes of waste generated in Merseyside each year.

The Waste Plan is tasked with finding solutions for waste management from now until 2027.

Seventeen sites have been shortlisted which could be used for treatment centres, processing plants and recycling.

In Wirral, one large site for waste treatment has been identified at Cammell Lairds in Tranmere and two smaller sites at Wallasey Bridge Road.

Two industrial areas associated with Cammell Lairds and the North Bank of the West Float Docks, have also been identified to accommodate other reprocessing and small scale activities.

In January waste experts said the region had run out of space for new landfill sites, and the focus is now on other ways of dealing with waste.

Household rubbish and hazardous waste, will have to be exported, recycled or burnt once current landfills are full.

Councillor Gill Gardiner, Cabinet Member for Environment said, “The Waste Plan needs to provide an alternative strategy to landfill.

“The alternative is to minimise our waste, re-use and recycle, and look at newer, more sustainable technologies for waste management and provide policies and sites for facilities that will take us towards a more sustainable future.”