Concerns Raised Over Reopening of Recycling Centre

Council confirms delay in relaunch of Stirling Road facility

No activity at the moment at the Stirling Road facility. Picture: ChiswickW4.com

September 9, 2024

Plans to open a recycling hub at the former waste depot on Stirling Road in South Acton have been postponed with no date given for the likely launch.

Ealing Council announced last October that it intended to open the ReActon Circular Economy Hub at the site in partnership with West London Waste Authority. Although black bin and garden waste were not going to be accepted at the site, the council had said that collection of items such as textiles and glass would begin in July.

A report to the borough scrutiny committee this March still gave the summer as the planned date for opening but said this would depend on lease arrangement, procurement of site infrastructure and planning permission. No planning application has been submitted so far in relation to the circular economy hub.

The original contract drawn up for the site was for the construction of a Training and Workshop Area, Food Distribution Area, and welfare facilities to be delivered by 31 March with a second phase of Delivery Partner Workshops, Storage Area, and Storing and Click and Collect Area to be delivered by 30 September with a £700 penalty per day for every day of late delivery payable on both phases. Ealing Council committee papers state that this contract was due to be put out to tender in April with working beginning in May or June. We have been unable to determine whether this contract was awarded and, if so, who it was awarded to.

As of this Saturday, (7 September) no activity of any kind is taking place at the site and concrete blocks are preventing access, but the council is still insisting that the new hub will open ‘in the coming months’.

Residents used to be able to drive in to the site to dispose of household waste, but the site was closed in November 2021 with the council citing budgetary reasons. It is understood that the intention was to sell the land for development. Since the closure, several tall towers have been constructed in the immediate vicinity but the Liberal Democrat opposition on the council say that it was not possible to dispose of the plot due to the cost of decontamination. Local Lib Dem leader Cllr Gary Malcolm says he has asked multiple questions about the ‘curious change of plans’ for the site and accused the council of rebadging the site trying to disguise the error of the original sale as a win.

Some local business owners believe that the failure to construct the planned facilities on the site for the circular economy hub relates to continued issues with contamination.

The new centre would be the first of its kind in the UK and it had been planned that there would be a number of organisations who specialise in reuse and repair based within the centre and workshops on recycling would be offered. The council said there would be opportunities for volunteering, work placements and apprenticeships.

Training and education were meant to start in July as well as the opening of a shop selling recycled items. A café was due to open this month with a circular economy festival taking place in October.

An Ealing Council spokesperson said, ‘We are working with West London Waste Authority to transform the old Acton waste depot on Stirling Road into the first reuse and repair centre of its kind in London. Residents will be able to repair and reuse electronics, bicycles, clothes, furniture and lots more. There will be classes to give people the skills to live more sustainably and reduce the amount going to landfill. There have been some delays, but we are working to open the centre in the coming months. In the meantime we are running pop up stalls at the Reduce and Recycle Hub at Acton Market offering a variety of ways to reduce waste including a book swap, sewing classes, bike checks and small electrical recycling’.

The council says that residents can take bulky household waste, garden waste, and recycling to its tip in Greenford which is open Friday to Tuesday (including weekends and bank holidays), from 8am to 4pm. Ealing residents are also allowed to use facilities in neighbour boroughs such as the one on Townmead Road in Richmond.