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17
Jul
Allerton Waste Recovery Park continues to miss recycling target
Allerton Waste Recovery Park has blamed “unplanned downtime” at its plant for failing to meet recycling targets again.
The recovery park, which is run by Thalia Waste Management on behalf of North Yorkshire Council and City of York Council, is based off the A1(M) near Knaresborough.
Built at a cost of £1.2 billion to divert 320,000 tonnes of waste a year from landfill, it includes a mechanical treatment plant, an anaerobic digester and an incinerator that generates energy from waste.
But, according to a 2025/26 performance report, the plant continues to miss its recycling target.
The report says that last year the recovery park recycled 1.76% of waste against a contractual requirement of 5%.
The figure is a 0.01% improvement on last year.
However, the site has not met the target any year since it began operation in 2018.
Waste being processed at the plant.
According to the report, the failure to meet the requirement was due to issues with the energy from waste plant at the start of the year, which in turn affected the mechanical treatment shredders.
It said:
Recycling performance was 1.76% against a contractual target of 5% which was broadly similar to the prior year’s performance. Performance of the MT is affected by the EfW, so the unavailability events and unplanned waste diversions in the first six months of the year impacted the overall recycling performance for the year.
The facility separates recyclables from household waste when it arrives at the plant. It then sells on the material to recycling processors.
But the plant has never met its contracted target, which is set by both North Yorkshire Council and City of York Council. It managed just over 2% for the first time in 2022.
Green Party Councillor David Noland, who represents Embsay with Eastby division, said:
After years of different explanations, the recycling performance has barely changed; it’s time to admit that this approach isn’t delivering. We should be doing much more to reuse, reduce and recycle, instead of relying on burning rubbish. We all agree that the new Waste Strategy is long overdue.
Councillors on North Yorkshire Council’s environment directorate committee will discuss the report on Wednesday, July 22.
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