Landowners are to be asked to consider whether they have any land that could be used for waste transfer or recycling.

The ‘call for sites’ will be made over the summer by Hertfordshire County Council, which says house-building and growing populations are generating more and more waste.

Council sites already deal with around three million tonnes of  waste a year from homes, business and industry in Hertfordshire.

But existing waste and recycling facilities can’t cope with predicted future demand, and the council is struggling to know where to put it.

It estimates that by 2024 it will have 320,000 tonnes of recycling, 585,000 tonnes of non-recyclable rubbish and 870,000 tonnes of building waste that it doesn't have the capacity to deal with.

And by 2031 those figures will be 505,000 tonnes, 560,000 tonnes and 1,600,000 tonnes.

So now – in drawing up their Waste Local Plan – they are on the lookout for new sites, that could be used for recycling centres, composting facilities or waste transfer stations.

And they believe putting out a general ‘call’ for available sites that could be considered is the best way to start the process.

Then, it is expected, consultants will be brought in to assess the sites and draw up a shortlist, before the draft plan goes out to public consultation later in the year.

“We need a variety of sites for facilities to deal with these different types of waste,” said a spokesperson for Hertfordshire County Council. “These facilities include recycling centres, composting facilities and waste transfer stations.

"At this stage we are in the process of putting out a call to waste operators, landowners, other authorities etc. who may have possible sites for these facilities.

 “We will then assess these in detail before preparing a draft plan to go out to public consultation later in the year.” 

One site currently earmarked for waste management in the county is the New Barnfield site, near Hatfield.

But this could be needed for a new school, subject to the finalisation of the Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council’s draft Local Plan.

This had been the subject of a ‘statement of common ground’ agreement, between Hertfordshire County Council and Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council, that it could be used for schooling.

But now the county council is looking to vary the agreement, so the land would only be available for a school if “an alternative HWRC site is identified in a mutually agreeable location elsewhere in the Welwyn-Hatfield area”.

The change was agreed by the county council’s growth, infrastructure, planning and the economy panel last Thursday and by cabinet on Monday.