WASTE is set to be incinerated in Cardiff a year early in a bid to ease a £240,000 landfill tax burden for Newport council.

Newport council cabinet member for infrastructure Ken Critchley has agreed for the authority to do a deal with Cardiff council over non-recyclable waste a year before the so-called Prosiect Gwyrdd contract begins.

A report to Cllr Critchley shows that incinerating waste in Cardiff would mean that four lorry loads a day are likely be moved from Newport’s Docks Way landfill site to the Viridor Trident Park facility.

Under the Prosiect Gwyrdd plans, Newport is teaming up with four other local authorities to burn waste at the Cardiff site – but the scheme isn’t expected to start until October 2015.

In April 2014 the cost of landfill tax – money charged to organisations for burying waste – rose to £80 per tonne, meaning the council will have to fork out another £240,000 in this financial year if it carried on.

Until Prosiect Gwyrdd gets up and running, the council risks facing substantial fines, but a 12-month interim contract would allow the council to meet targets it is given to divert waste from landfill.

The report says an award for the service to Viridor using Trident Park is “the only option for technical reasons”.

Cllr Richard White, Tory councillor for Marshfield, said it was important that routes of traffic were considered for vehicles carrying waste to Cardiff.

“The rural roads south of the A48 are already used by HGV vehicles although with the numerous bends and the railway bridges they are not really suitable for large vehicles,” he said.

Officers wrote to the councillor saying waste would be bulked up at the council’s landfill site at Docks Way and transported to the Viridor facility in Cardiff.

“The haulier will be instructed not to use the ‘rural roads’ south of the A48,” said the interim head of streetscene Phil Matley.