Waste infrastructure community engagement – a UK toolkit. Presented by Adam Read, Waste Management & Resource Efficiency Practice Director. Presented at the Air & Waste Management Association’s 105th Annual Conference & Exhibition, San Antonio, June 19-22, 2012.

1. WASTE INFRASTRUCTURE COMMUNITY
ENGAGEMENT – A UK TOOLKIT
Dr Adam Read – Practice Director
Waste Management & Resource Efficiency, AEA
AWMA 2012
A world leading
19th – 22nd June energy and climate
change consultancy
San Antonio, Texas

2. An Overview …. In 20 minutes …..
+ Personal Welcome
+ Introduction to the topic
+ What was the issue?
+ Why a toolkit?
+ Development and production of the toolkit
+ The training programme
+ What’s happening now?
+ Use of the toolkit
+ Some conclusions
2

3. A personal welcome
+ Adam Read
- Practice Director @ AEA for Waste Management
- 18 years of operational expertise in recycling service
design, roll-out and monitoring
- Staff of > 75 consultants (UK and US)
+ Role on the project
- Project Director
+ Acknowledgements
- Sarahjane Widdowson, Gareth Morton and Gwyndaf Parry
- AEA for their support in allowing me to be here today
3

4. My sponsors ….
4

5. Our US sponsors
+ We are here exhibiting with ERG
- we acquired them in 2010
+ Come and see us on Booth #118
- ERG and AEA Technology Group
+ Franklin Associates (ERG division)
- extensive experience in all aspects of
solid waste management (over 30 years
of practice)
- integrated solid waste master plans
- full life cycle analyses of solid waste
- waste stream evaluations for local,
regional, state, and national agencies
5

6. Introduction
6

7. The UK Context
+ Landfill disposal cost is increasing each year
- Landfill tax is increasing by £8 per tonne (currently £64/tonne)
+ EU Waste Framework Directive requires:
- 50% recycling 2025
- 75% reduction on 1995 levels of BMW going to landfill by 2020
+ Recycling targets set by Devolved Administrations in the UK
- 70% target for Scotland by 2020
- 70% target for Wales by 2025
+ These are driving local authorities to introduce
comprehensive services to reduce, recycle and recover waste
+ An estimated 750 new waste treatment facilities needed
- before 2020 so the UK can meet its obligations 7

8. Community Engagement is key ….
+ UK is a tiny island!
- 2.5% of the US land mass
+ Land is in competition
- retail, domestic, industry
+ Planning is a local political issue
+ People power is an increasing trend
+ A Government who are encouraging
‘localism’
+ Waste facilities are not popular
neighbours!
+ Yet waste facilities should be ‘urban’
- feedstock & markets 8

9. Public consultation
+ Is a fact of life…
- By law
- By encouragement
- By popular demand …

10. But…
+ People no longer trust decision makers!

11. The basic problem...1

12. The basic problem...2
12

13. The basic problem...3
The Unsustainable vs. The Undeliverable
13

14. UK EfW facilities – May 2012
Operational, proposed
& in planning
14

15. The NIMBY response!
+ Hull Opposing The Incinerator (HOTI)

16. People need to have their ‘say’

17. The results of ‘not listening’

18. Cost of Residual Waste Procurement?
+ Authority X have spent £3/4 million on
- Strategy & Outline Business Case
- Procurement (EOI to full tender)
- Staff & Advisors
- 3-5 years of work
+ Value of contract procured?
- £3 billion (over 30 years)
+ Value of communications budget = insignificant!
- £300,000
- Would you mind paying £900,00 if it guarantees success?
+ But what is the cost of not operational on Day 1?

19. Opposing Cornwall
+ A vociferous and
effective opposition
movement
developed
- Campaign website
- Logo
- Literature
- Mobilised local
people
- Led public opinion

20. SITA Public Meeting in a Marquee in St
Dennis attracted 800 people
from all parts of Cornwall

21. Cost of delays ? Every month ….
+ Contract penalties
- £100 per tonne (£3 million)
+ On-going landfill fees & taxes
- £100 per tonne (£3 million)
+ Planning Appeals & Enquiries
- £500,000 - £1 Million
+ Main reason for infrastructure delays = PLANNING
- Driven by local concerns and NIMBY activists!
+ Spending wisely on community engagement = INVESTMENT!
21

22. Reality check ….

23. What are the sustainable solutions?
+ Ones that help the UK meet its statutory targets
+ Ones that are affordable
+ Ones that are environmentally acceptable
+ Ones that generate jobs
+ Ones that protect human health
+ Ones that are deliverable in the time available
+ Ones that are robust and flexible
+ Ones that are politically acceptable
+ Ones that are publicly acceptable
- Ones that have been fully consulted on……
23

24. What is the public concerned about?
+ Fear of impact to health
+ Effects on quality of life
+ Damage to natural environment
+ Lack of trust in authority
+ Traffic movements
+ Local house prices (NIMBY)
+ Local landscape
+ What technology will be used
+ These need to be addressed
- design them into your engagement
plan right from the start 24

25. Overcoming public fears
Public Engagement is vital to
+ Provide people with accurate information
+ Understand public concerns
+ Gain the support of the wider community
+ Encourage positive action
+ Provide a sense of ‘ownership’
- of the problem
- and of the solutions
+ Develop a proposal which is mutually beneficial
+ Providing a community benefit
25

26. Key issues
+ Stakeholders are not obliged to co-operate
+ They are giving their time and therefore determine how long
they wish to spend in consultation
+ They have the right to confidentiality
+ They have a right to receive information in return
+ Need to set out clearly the use of information and
commitment to acting on results
- consultation for fact finding or for making decisions?
- conversation is important!
26

27. When to consult
Public Information Giving
A procurement timetable and
consultation/engagement Commissioning
opportunities
Construction
Permitting
Business Case Development Site Specific Consultation
Contractor PQQ & Procurement
Planning and site acquisition
Public Information Giving
Procurement Strategy & Market Engagement
Focus Preferred Option
Groups Communication Outline Business Case
Strategy Options Appraisal
Consultation
Strategy and SEA
Waste Planning Guide and Site Selection
Site Selection Criteria Consultation

28. Decide and defend?
+ If ‘consultation is left until as late as the site planning stage:
- effectively no consultation with public
- either a Yes or No decision
- undoubtedly local opposition will block the application or
at least slow down its acceptance
- public will react with hostility to this type of ‘decide and
defend’ approach to facility development
+ This has been the UK approach….
+ Must move beyond this traditional ‘them and us’ approach:
- a position based on participatory planning
- focusing on engagement and joined up thinking
28

29. How to Consult?
+ The team conducting the consultation need to be active and
believe in the process
+ There is no point carrying out a consultation if it is just a tick
box exercise
- Stakeholders will see through this quickly and won’t engage
+ Options
- Public Meetings / Focus Groups
- Shopping Centre Roadshows
- Newspaper articles
- Radio and TV advertising
- Leaflets / Website
- Home visits / School visits
- Community Advisory Groups / Citizen Juries
Waste Management - WALES
Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, 1st November 2007

30. Literature

31. Online Surveys & Information

32. Waste Management - WALES
Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, 1st November 2007

33. Waste Management - WALES
Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, 1st November 2007

34. Waste Management - WALES
Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, 1st November 2007

35. The Toolkit
35

36. About Wales
+ Part of UK
+ 3m population
+ 22 local authorities,
including a mix of
rural, urban and valley
regions
+ Devolved Government
+ Target of 70% recycling
by 2025
36

37. Setting the Scene in Wales …
+ European and UK legislative drivers aim to divert
waste from landfill
+ The Welsh Government (WG) published its
revised National Waste Strategy (2010)
- Towards Zero Waste
+ The strategy set a
- 70% recycling target
- cap of 30% on high efficiency EfW plants
+ Recognition that new infrastrucutre was
necessary
- sorting, treatment, reprocessing
- all needing to get through the planning system 37

38. Delivering waste facilities in Wales
+ Planning of waste management
infrastructure has been historically difficult
- even including bring banks
+ Pressure to meet European Union landfill
diversion Targets
+ Several hundred new waste facilities needed
- from bring banks to treatment plants
+ Welsh Government commissioned the
production of a new public engagement
toolkit
- help local authorities consult and engage
more effectively with the general public
on waste infrastructure issues 38

39. The aim
Enable any ‘user’ to
develop a local campaign
which is appropriate and
focused on local solutions
39

40. What’s in it?
+ It considers the different stages of consultation:
- initial awareness raising of the problem
- strategic evaluation of alternative options
- understanding of the need for change
- choice of technology
- decisions on site search criteria
- planning and licensing applications for specific facilities
+ All can be done in isolation
+ Better still they should be seen as a holistic programme of
consultation leading to delivery of the appropriate facilities
for the area in question
40

41. How does is work?
+ The toolkit is a step-by-step guide to consulting with all
stakeholders on waste infrastructure issues
+ It is based around the following concepts:
- Why consult
- When should you consult
- Who should you consult with
- How do you consult?
+ It uses best practice and a detailed literature review of
existing documents with relevance to communications,
consultation, and waste management
41

42. Toolkit contents
+ Tick sheets of key tasks
+ Project Timetables
+ Stakeholder Involvement
- How to
- When to
- Reason to
+ Stakeholder roles
+ Events Management
+ Costs
- Outline budgets
+ Monitoring and Evaluation tools
42

43. What’s in it?
43

44. Media guide
+ FAQs
+ Press release template
- advertising consultation events
+ PowerPoint presentations
- for use at consultation events / public meetings etc
- covering technologies
44

45. Why is it different?
+ There are excellent guidance documents on stakeholder
consultation already available
- it is not a new concept in the environment field
- nor the waste management sector
+ The difference lies in its practical nature
+ As well as conventional guidance, it provides:
- indicative timings and costs for running campaigns
- detailed fact sheets and images of all types of waste
treatment technologies that can be provided to the public
to help explain these issues and help to demystify the
subject
45

46. The training programme
46

47. Why a training programme too?
The Welsh Government recognised two things:
+ Public acceptance of new facilities would be crucial to
keeping their waste strategy on track and local authorities
would need help in developing better practices
+ The relevant local authority officers and personnel from the
Environment Agency in Wales needed to be, not only made
aware of the toolkits existence, but also trained in its use
- Just possessing the toolkit wasn’t enough
- How many guides sit on a shelf?
47

48. Target audiences and aims
+ Awareness Raising:
- Targeting those involved in the procurement process, ensuring they
had a broad understanding of the main issues, processes and
objectives of good consultation
+ Member Training:
- Targeting local elected councillors with a responsibility for or an
interest in waste management to give an understanding of the need
for, and their role in, community engagement during the procurement
of new food processing and residual waste treatment technologies
+ Local Authority Officer Training:
- Specifically those involved in the procurement of residual and food
waste treatment facilities
- Providing the knowledge and confidence to create an appropriate
communications plan for their particular procurement process, and to
organise and conduct appropriate types of engagement 48

49. Detailed course aims
+ Provide delegates with appropriate ‘tools’ for use during
planned Community Engagement
+ Increase understanding of the current waste infrastructure
procurement programmes and their timetables amongst the
delegates
+ Provide delegates with details of when, how and with whom
to engage throughout the procurement of any new facility
+ Supply delegates with sufficient knowledge to deal
satisfactorily with any planned ‘merchant facilities’
+ Advise delegates on how to deal with the media
+ Enable delegates to create a communications plan for their
area / projects
49

50. How the training was delivered
+ Geography - The training was designed to run in locations
that were:
- accessible to the widely dispersed audience
- matched the locations of a number of waste treatment
facility procurement ‘hubs’ that were operating
+ Convenience - The 3 day course was also designed to have
minimum impact on officer’s time by:
- scheduling sessions for just one day per week in each of
the three locations over three weeks
+ Accreditation
- 18 hours of Continued Professional Development (CPD)
approved by Chartered Institute of Wastes Management
(UK professional body for waste managers) 50

51. The procurement hubs and training locations
+ Initial 3 day programme
+ Follow up ‘all-Wales’
training
+ Training for elected
members at national
conference in Cardiff
51

52. Who attended?
+ Over 50 officers (from all of the 22 local authorities
in Wales) attended the training courses
+ Around 30 councillors attended the special session
held at the national conference in Cardiff
52

53. Outcomes
53

54. The current situation
A major waste management infrastructure delivery programme
is now firmly underway:
+ Out of the 22 local authorities in Wales:
- 18 are part of one of 5 food waste focused procurement hubs to
jointly procure waste management infrastructure
- 4 other authorities have already secured appropriate measures
+ For residual waste in particular….
- 6 procurement hubs are in place. Each hub has a projected capacity
requirement for the treatment of residual waste ranging from 45,000
tonnes to 230,000 tonnes per annum
- Total waste tonnage treatment capacity for the whole of Wales is up
to 815,000 tonnes
- The hubs are technology neutral (i.e. no specific technology specified)
o Makes engagement even more critical!
54

55. The role of the hubs
+ These hubs (both residual waste
treatment and AD focused) will be
responsible for designing and
procuring over 25 major new
facilities by 2020
+ All will need careful community and
stakeholder engagement if they are
to proceed smoothly to their
operational stage
+ All must demonstrate they have an
engagement plan and are
implementing effectively to retain
Government funding & support!
55

56. Use of the toolkit?
+ 57% (12) local authorities in Wales used the Toolkit for:
- generic awareness raising activities related to reduce, reuse and
recycling messages as well as waste infrastructure campaigns
+ Of these authorities, 30% (4) had used it, or were intending
on using it, specifically for:
- awareness raising activities surrounding the introduction of new
waste infrastructure
+ A further 41% of local authorities in Wales were:
- planning to use the Toolkit over the next 24 months in conjunction
with their infrastructure delivery plans
+ Many local authorities were planning to use the toolkit
- for more general recycling and waste campaigns, addressing waste
prevention, home composting and litter
56

57. Conclusions
57

58. You’ve got to engage
+ The community is an essential part of the waste
management process
+ Facilities and more likely to be accepted if communities are
involved in a dialogue with the provider
+ A lack of consultation can
- Increase your costs
- Stop your project
- Devalue your brand
+ It pays to engage!
58

60. Lessons for the US
+ Landfill is cheap and accessible but what
about resource security?
- Will new infrastructure be needed?
+ Some facilities benefit from being close to
local communities (CHP)
- Contractors need to be ‘good neighbours’
+ As fuel (gasoline) prices increase, localising
facilities to communities will be key
- This will bring tension
- Need to plan for this!
+ Community engagement can be expensive –
but not engaging is usually more costly!
60

62. Thank you!
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63. Come and see us …. Booth #118
Adam Read Shelly Schneider
Practice Director - AEA Franklin Associates (ERG)
Waste Management & Resource Waste Management & Resource
Efficiency Efficiency
cell: 0044 7968 707 239 tel: 913-800-8276
email: adam.read@aeat.co.uk email: Shelly.Schneider@erg.com
web: www.aeat.co.uk web: www.aeat.co.uk