Waste and Resources

Waste management

GMCA is responsible for the management and disposal of municipal waste from Greater Manchester (formerly known as Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority). We handle around 4 per cent of the UKs municipal waste. This is approximately 1.1 million tonnes of waste and recycling each year from over a million households from the metropolitan districts of Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside and Trafford (Wigan operates as a unitary authority and administers its own disposal arrangements).

GMCA receives funding from a levy on the nine Greater Manchester local authorities. The levy funds the operation of a network of waste and recycling management facilities in Greater Manchester including:

20 Household Waste and Recycling Centres
Eight Transfer Loading Stations
Five Mechanical Treatment and Reception Facilities
A Materials Recovery Facility
An Energy Recovery Facility

We also manage one Education Centre, a Solar Farm and four closed landfill sites.

SUEZ Recycling and Recovery UK operate the facilities in Greater Manchester after being awarded the operating contracts in June 2019.

SUEZ is committed to delivering a social value plan which includes:

Opening three Reuse shops on the household waste recycling centres in Spring 2021. The Reuse shops will raise funds for charities and community groups in Greater Manchester, each year SUEZ has committed to giving:

Recycling as much as Greater Manchester’s waste as locally as possible. All recycling is processed in the UK with at least 60% dealt with in the North West. SUEZ have already invested in the Saica paper and card recycling plant in Trafford which now has the capacity to recycle paper and card collected from households across all 9 boroughs.