Future plans

ASC is currently in the process of presenting a change of use application to Gloucestershire County Council. The company proposes to use part of its 13 acre site and existing buildings for composting kitchen waste – vegetable and fruit peelings and other biodegradable kitchen scraps, known as Mixed Organic Waste (MOW).

Under new European guidelines, the Government is imposing fines on councils if, by 2010, they do not achieve landfill reduction targets by recycling or composting at least 30% of household waste – currently all MOW goes to landfill in Cheltenham and Gloucester.

If Gloucestershire's yearly total of more than 100,000 tonnes of compostable waste continues to be dumped in landfill sites, this could mean fines of £15 million per year for the local authority – potentially leading to significant increases in local council tax.

Link: for more information – 'Helping to clean up Gloucestershire's environment' leaflet.