A decision by Stoke-on-Trent City Council to enhance the city’s recycling collection service has left the authority facing a claim of around £645,000 from its energy from waste (EfW) contractor for not providing enough waste to feed the facility.

The council is facing legal action from Hanford Waste Services (HWS), which operates the city’s EfW facility. It is understood that HWS is claiming that the council has failed to supply enough residual waste to be burnt at the EfW, according to the terms of the 25 year contract.

This fall in residual waste arisings is thought to be as a direct result of the city council’s enhanced recycling service which was introduced in March 2009.

This has also been confirmed by council documents. Minutes of a 23 September 2010 meeting of the council’s Transformation and Resources Overview and Scrutiny Committee state: “A claim was received in June in respect of the city council failing to achieve minimum tonnage levels in 2009/10 for £645k. This is offset by a rebate of £0.316m [believed to be from providing energy to the National Grid] leaving a net pressure of £0.329m. This is subject to legal interpretation and contract negotiation with Hanford Waste Services and the County Council.”