Bedfordshire Energy and Recycling Project (BEaR)

The BEaR Project has been set-up to find alternatives to land filling Bedfordshire's waste, a problem faced by every local authority in the UK. Strict Government and EU legislation requires that the amount of the UK’s waste which is sent to land fill has to be reduced by 65% of 1995 levels by 2020. Bedfordshire’s target is to reduce land filled waste from 131,428 tonnes in 2007/08 to 44,816 tonnes in 2020.

Bedfordshire’s ‘Recycle Now!’ campaign has meant that more waste is recycled, reducing the amount going to land fill. ‘Recycle Now!’ also encourages residents to reduce the amount of waste they produce in the first place and to reuse household items wherever possible rather than throw them away. Bedfordshire recycled 40% of it’s household waste in 2007/08, however, we need to do more to meet the Government targets to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill.

Bedfordshire is working in partnership with Bedford Borough Council, Central Bedfordshire Council & Luton Borough Council to ensure we comply with our statutory obligations. This will avoid penalty fines for not hitting our landfill reduction targets, which could result in increases to Council taxes or cuts to other services.

Consultations with Bedfordshire residents established that there is strong support for a state-of-the-art plant which will turn rubbish which cannot to recycled into energy which, in turn, will be fed into local homes and businesses. This sort of technology would produce very few emissions - and would pose less of a threat than a traditional landfill site would in terms of releasing gases that contribute to climate change.

The development of this solution is known as theBedfordshire Energy and Recycling (BEaR) Project. The BEaR Project web pages are designed to give you up to date information and keep you informed on the progress of the project.