Established in 1986, ELWA is a Statutory Waste Disposal Authority with responsibility for the safe disposal of waste from the four East London Boroughs of Barking and Dagenham, Havering, Newham and Redbridge.

The total ELWA area is 242.9 square km, with a total of 364668 households and 888,400 residents.

Best Value Performance Indicators (BVPIs) 2006-07:
Recycling Rate: 13.46% + Composting Rate: 4.91%
= Total Current Rate (2006-07): 18.37%

East London Waste Authority has statutory targets: 
to recycle / compost 20% of all household waste by 2007-08

Under the IWMS contract, Shanks.east london has supported the four constituent Councils with a number of recycling services. These include:

• Redevelopment of the Reuse and Recycling Centre (formerly Civic Amenity sites) to extend the range of materials that can be recycled;
• Provision and servicing of over 750 Bring Sites across the ELWA area (the Bring Sites were previously owned by the boroughs).
• Introduction of an ‘orange bag’ kerbside collection recycling scheme, in partnership with Barking & Dagenham and Newham Councils
• Supporting Redbridge Council’s ‘black box’ kerbside collection recycling scheme;
• Continue supporting Havering Council’s ‘orange bag’ kerbside collection recycling scheme.

Education and Awareness Campaign

Shanks.east london is also actively pursuing an education and awareness campaign throughout local schools and across the community through its Community & Education Liaison Officer team. There are plans to open an Education Centre at the Jenkins Lane Reuse and Recycling Centre during 2008

For more information on the recycling and composting services offered by ELWA’s constituent boroughs please click on the links below:

London Borough of Barking and Dagenham

London Borough of Havering

London Borough of Newham

London Borough of Redbridge

Shanks.east london is responsible for the management and disposal of all waste presented by ELWA and the four councils. This includes waste collected by the Councils from households and some small businesses, waste from street cleansing and also waste deposited by members of the public and small businesses visiting the Reuse & Recycling Centres. In 2006/07 total waste amounted to approximately 500,000 tonnes.

In 2006/07 the Frog Island Mechanical Biological Treatment Plant (Bio Mrf) was opened. This Plant allows for the household waste to be separated into recyclable portions (by removing the orange bags) and drying and stabilising the residual waste. The process reduces the weight and allows further separation of materials for recycling and the production of a secondary recovery fuel (SRF) that can be used to recover energy or replace fossil fuels. 

In Spring 2007, Jenkins Lane, Bio-Mrf at Becton started to receive wastes. This large facility, capable of processing up to 180,000 tonnes of waste per annum, is similar to the one at Frog Island and together will handle most of ELWA’s waste. The Jenkins Lane facilities will process the residual household waste of the London Boroughs of Newham and Redbridge.

The management of waste has moved on considerably since 2003-4 when the majority of non-recycled waste (435,820 tonnes) collected by ELWA’s four constituent Councils and at the Reuse & Recycling Centres, was sent to landfill and a further 36,218 tonnes was sent for incineration at the LondonWaste Ltd plant at Edmonton.

Recycling and Composting

Some of ELWA’s green compostable material is processed at ELWA’s composting facility located at the Aveley 1 closed landfill site. This composting operation takes residents’ source separated green waste, shreds it, waters and turns the mix to allow the bugs to compost. After 12 weeks, the shredded compost is screened into a soil improver and mulch.  Production: approximately 2,000 tonnes.  The process is certified by the Composting Association as PAS 100 compliant with British Standard quality.

In addition to the new arrangements already introduced by Shanks.east london since 2002 when the Integrated Waste Management Contract make into effect, future proposals include:-

• The completion of a Materials Recycling Facility (MRF) at Jenkins Lane that will be used to separate the recyclates in the orange bags collected at the doorsteps of over 250,000 households across East London
  
• The Recycling MRF at Ilford will continue to process the waste collected via the London Borough of Redbridge black box recycling scheme
  
• All the four Reuse & Recycling Centres (RRCs) have become Designated Collection Facilities (DCFs) that will separate and recycle used electrical equipment such as fridges, washing machines, TVs, computers, fluorescent tubes and electronic games/toys following the introduction of the Waste Electronic Electrical Equipment (WEEE) Regulations in 2007/08
  
• Contributing to the development of a Joint Waste Development Plan Document (DPD) (currently being prepared by the four constituent Councils) which sets out a planning and land use strategy for sustainable waste management within the ELWA area for the period up to 2020. This should enable the adequate provision of waste management facilities in appropriate locations for municipal, commercial and industrial construction and demolition and hazardous waste