No-deal Brexit could see rubbish from the south sent to the north, industry insiders admit

‘What we ask from the south is more power and equivalent investment... yet what we get in no-deal Britain is literally, rubbish’

Household rubbish from London and the south could be sent north to be dumped under a no-deal Brexit, industry insiders have warned.

Millions of tonnes of black bin waste which is currently sent for treatment in the EU may have to stay in the UK if Britain leaves the union without a divorce settlement on 31 October.

Because London and the south-east has such little capacity to deal with the potential increase in rubbish, it would have to be transported to landfill sites in areas most likely including Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and the north east.

Previously mothballed dumps would be reopened as part of potential contingency plans, it is said.

“It [waste] would have to start being trucked...up to those landfill spaces further up north and stuck in a hole in the ground,” Jacob Hayler, who runs industry body the Environmental Services Association, told the BBC.

“That’s something that we would really like to avoid.”

Mary Creagh, MP for Wakefield, in West Yorkshire, and chair of the Commons Environmental Audit Committee, told The Independent: “We already know the north will be hit first and worst by a no-deal Brexit. The Confederation of British Industry have put the economic damage at £39 billion a year here. But to hear the north could now be taking waste from the south yet again highlights just how far the Brexit reality has come since 2016.

“What we ask from the south is more power for the Northern Powerhouse and equivalent investment in our transport network, to ensure it is fit for the 21st Century. Yet what we get in no-deal Britain is literally, rubbish.”

Currently three million tonnes of domestic waste is exported to countries, including Scandinavia, the Netherlands and Germany every year.

There, it is treated, recycled and turned into refuse-derived fuel.

But without an agreed deal, there are concerns it will be physically stopped from going to the EU or, even if arrangements are made, could be delayed for significant periods at ports.

With the UK not having the facilities to treat and recycle such waste, it would be dumped in landfill instead.

And, given that the biggest landfill sites are in the north, much may have to be ferried there.

Such a scenario would harm the environment and cost councils – many of which have rated the risk as medium or high – millions of pounds, insiders say.

But the Environment Agency said it expected firms to find suitable solutions.

“We are encouraging businesses who export waste to consider and continue to plan alternative options in case of disruption at borders,” a spokesperson for the government agency said.

It added it would work to ensure the UK respected the new EU limit of just 10 per cent of household waste going to landfill by 2035, even after Brexit. Currently around 20 per cent is sent to landfill.