ANY idea how to get rid of 120,000 tonnes of rubbish every year?

Somerset Waste Partnership wants to avoid burying everything we throw out in landfill sites and is asking waste treatment suppliers to help.

It currently spends £12million of council taxpayers’ cash putting our trash in a hole in the ground – the organisation now aims to chop that bill by £1.3million by finding alternative ways of disposing of it.

SWP’s governing Somerset Waste Board asked its partner Viridor to come up with some other options, but says the ideas didn’t fully meet its criteria.

SWP managing director Steve Read said: “This decision only involves the residual waste disposal side of our contract with Viridor and nothing else. Residents will see no changes.

“The original proposal from Viridor did not reflect what the board believes the wider market could offer and so it decided to suspend its exclusive deal with the firm.”

SWP has begun a procurement process for residual waste treatment, aiming to divert material from landfill, without specifying any preferred technology or location.

During the search, Viridor will continue to landfill waste at its existing two sites within Somerset.