Persistent Organic Pollutants (PoPs) Waste

Oxfordshire County Council (OCC) is looking to engage with contractors for the services of the shredding and disposal of Persistent Organic Pollutants Waste or POPs Waste.

Since 1 January 2023 domestic soft seating containing Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) has been banned from landfill and must be incinerated in accordance with Environment Agency (EA) guidance published in December 2022.

Shredding and Haulage of PoPs Waste

Since 1 January 2023 domestic soft seating containing Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) has been banned from landfill and must be incinerated in accordance with Environment Agency (EA) guidance published in December 2022. Due to the short timescale, we put in place temporary arrangements with our contractors for shredding and transport of POPs waste collected by the city and district councils and at Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs), and our contractor agreed to incinerate our POPs waste. By January 2026 we hope the market for shredding and treatment of POPs waste will have settled down and developed, potentially bringing forward more suppliers able to bid for the tender. Temporary Regulatory Position Statements (RPS's) issued by the EA about how POPs waste is shredded continue for now but development of EA regulations has not yet given the certainty we had hoped.

The tender is likely to be advertised in lots and will include delivery points for POPs waste for the district councils and HWRCs, shredding, haulage, and final disposal by incineration depending on solution offered. The disposal points will need to be in convenient locations for the district councils and HWRCs to deliver to.

It is currently uncertain whether there will be any changes to the existing guidance in light of the experience of handling this waste. With a high degree of risk in some areas, this will need to be allowed for in the tender.

It will also need to allow for additional materials to be added to list of waste requiring destruction by incineration, such as mattresses, carpets, tents and other items treated with POPs.