Severn Waste Services

WHO WE ARE

Severn Waste Services is the public face of municipal waste management in Worcestershire and Herefordshire, operating facilities for its sister company, Mercia Waste Management. Mercia Waste signed an initial 25 year contract with Worcestershire County Council and the Herefordshire Council in December 1998 under the Private Finance Initiative. This contract brought an integrated waste management service to the two counties, leading to the more sustainable management of municipal waste.

Severn Waste and Mercia Waste are jointly owned by FCC Environment and Urbaser Ltd. These organisations are in turn owned by two major Spanish conglomerates, FCC (Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas SA) and Urbaser, S.A respectively. They have a wealth of experience worldwide in the provision of infrastructure and services.

WHAT WE DO

When the Company started its work in Worcestershire and Herefordshire in 1998, over 90% of municipal waste from the two counties was landfilled – mostly at the Hill & Moor site near Pershore in Worcestershire.
Since that time we have invested in a range of activities which, in parallel with initiatives driven by the County and District authorities have helped to reduce landfilling to less than 60%. The most notable achievements have been:

 Improvements and performance of Household Waste Recycling centres where recycling rates are now generally above 70%
Delivery of the EnviroSort Materials Reclamation Facility through which pass all the kerbside recyclable materials collected by the Districts.
Progressive increase in the quantity of green waste composted and resultant soil conditioner utilised, which has contributed to the process of moving waste up the ‘Waste Hierarchy.’
Investing in waste transfer facilities for the safe, secure, and efficient transport of waste from the point of arisings to treatment or disposal site.

Through ongoing service improvements and education and awareness-raising, we have in place all the facilities to help the Waste Disposal Authority meet its recycling and composting targets.

For the residual waste that cannot readily be recycled we will continue to safely landfill this material at Hill & Moor, whilst at the same time continuing to generate electricity from methane-rich landfill gas produced at the site.  However, we believe that more renewable energy can be recovered from this waste stream, and that is why we have proposed the EnviRecover Energy-from-Waste plant, to be located at Hartlebury in Worcestershire.

With this facility in place, the Councils will meet all its recycling and landfill targets, virtually eliminating the need for landfill, and maximising the environmental and economic benefits from municipal waste.