The South London Waste Partnership Joint Committee met on 26 November 2025 to discuss communications and engagement, contract performance, and budget updates. Key decisions included noting the contents of the communications and engagement report, approving the 2026/27 budget, and noting the performance of various waste management contracts.

Communications and Engagement Update

The committee received an update on communications and stakeholder engagement activities between May and October 2025, aligning with the SLWP Communications and Engagement Strategy 2025-2030. This strategy focuses on six key objectives: attracting external funding for waste awareness campaigns, improving trust in local recycling systems, raising awareness of carbon reduction efforts, maintaining support for energy recovery, ensuring high resident satisfaction with Household Reuse and Recycling Centres (HRRCs), and developing the SLWP website to tell a compelling story about the waste challenge.

Significant activities included the continued availability of creatives from the What's Your Plastic Solution? campaign, efforts to secure external funding for future campaigns, and the publication of the first edition of Waste Watch on the SLWP website to enhance transparency. Facility tours of Materials Recycling Facilities (MRFs) and the Beddington Energy Recovery Facility (ERF) were ongoing, with a final public open day for 2025 scheduled. The SLWP is also trialling a Community Reuse Scheme, working with Veolia, Suez, and Edwards Recycling to enhance social value commitments. Progress has been made in establishing a carbon emissions baseline for the Beddington ERF, with draft annual reports for 2019-2023 undergoing peer review.

Regarding the Beddington ERF, communications efforts have focused on addressing the Oxides of Nitrogen (NOx) calibration error. This included publishing a press release, Viridor uploading a statement to their website, and meetings with the Environment Agency (EA) and the Beddington Community Liaison Group (CLG). The SLWP has put forward suggestions to Viridor to help restore trust, such as withdrawing their application to treat more waste, providing funds for local air quality projects, and investing in community engagement. Communications also covered the planned maintenance outage at the ERF.

For HRRCs, the focus is on the upcoming service re-commissioning, with the SLWP Communications Advisor working with boroughs on resident consultation. The SLWP website has been updated to reflect new contractual arrangements and now hosts Waste Watch reports and quarterly performance reports.

Contracts Performance Report

The committee reviewed the performance of the SLWP's waste treatment, recycling, and disposal services for April to September 2025.

Food and Green Waste: Volumes of food waste collected decreased by 6% compared to the previous year, while green waste saw a significant 17.8% decrease, attributed to a dry summer. Compliance issues at the Biocollectors facility in Mitcham, particularly concerning odour, are being addressed through a site action plan involving new external hardstanding works and air quality abatement technology, with an investment of around £1.5 million. No odour complaints were received during the summer period, though local concerns persist.

Household Reuse and Recycling Centres (HRRCs): Overall recycling performance at the six HRRC sites was 68.7%, a slight increase from the previous year. There was a 6% increase in the total volumes of materials collected, with notable increases in rubble (34%) and soil (38%), while green waste decreased by 15%. Over 14,500 items were collected for reuse and offered for resale in the two reuse shops. Booking systems for cars and vans at Merton, Sutton, and Kingston HRRCs remain consistent in their usage. A feasibility study into mattress recycling concluded it was not currently viable due to cost and logistical challenges. An asset replacement programme of approximately £4 million is underway for key HRRC assets, including bins, containers, and vehicles.

Residual Waste Treatment Contract (Viridor South London Ltd): The Beddington ERF received 102,757 tonnes of residual waste, an increase of 1.82% compared to the previous year. Facility availability was 87%, taking into account a four-week planned maintenance shutdown. During this shutdown, 1,870 tonnes of residual waste were sent to landfill.

A significant issue arose concerning the ERF's Continuous Emissions Monitoring System (CEMS) calibration, which led to 916 exceedances of daily Oxides of Nitrogen (NOx) emission limits between August 2022 and March 2024. The EA's Compliance Assessment Report (CAR) found Viridor in breach of its permit. Despite the exceedances, the EA and UK Health Security Agency concluded there was no significant public health impact. Viridor has submitted proposals to the EA to improve its operational management systems, and the EA is revising its guidance to other ERF operators. The SLWP will assess appropriate contractual penalties and work with Viridor to rebuild trust. Four further CARs were issued to Viridor for minor non-compliance issues. The EA is still considering its final decision on Viridor's application to increase the amount of waste processed at the ERF.

Dry Recyclables Management: New contract arrangements for dry recyclables, effective from 1 April 2025, have been successfully mobilised. Volumes for mixed paper/card and container mix are generally consistent with previous years. However, fully comingled Dry Mixed Recycling (DMR) collected in Croydon, Merton, and Sutton has been rejected due to excessive contamination, primarily from food and household waste. Work is ongoing to improve the quality of DMR collected. Contamination levels for paper/card and container mix are generally low and within contractual thresholds.

Budget Update 2025/26

The committee received an update on the partnership's budget for the 2025/26 financial year. At the end of September 2025 (month six), a forecast overspend of £20,575 was reported against the approved budget, equating to £5,144 per borough. This overspend is primarily due to £9,493 in unbudgeted legal costs related to the finalisation of recyclates contracts and a £11,082 overspend in the core activity budget. The core budget overspend is largely attributed to a higher-than-anticipated staff pay award (3.2% compared to the budgeted 2.5%) and increased subscription costs for document management systems.

Proposed Management Budget 2026/27

The committee considered and approved the proposed SLWP Management Budget for 2026/27, totalling £707,000. This represents an annual cost of £177,000 per borough, an increase of approximately £16,000 per borough on the previous year. The increase is due to the reintroduction of a legal budget (£7,500 per borough), an estimated 3.5% inflation on staffing costs (over £8,000 per borough), and an annual increase for data and storage costs (£366 per borough). The budget will enable the SLWP to continue managing delegated services and deliver its Work Programme 2025-30. A Savings and Income Strategy is being developed to reduce the cost of treatment and disposal services. The Work Programme includes plans for recommissioning HRRC and waste transfer station services, recyclates contracts, and street sweepings contracts.