Contract will see Cambridgeshire waste sent to Northern Ireland

It was estimated to cost Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire more than £2.2m in 2025-26 said the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Labour councillor, Mark Ashton said the scrutiny committee had “not had a chance to really debate or look at alternatives”, as did Green Party councillor Elliot Tong.

Mr Tong said: “There is a shocking lack of consideration of the environmental impacts, particularly when it comes to carbon footprint, there is really nothing we can see from it.”

Rosy Moore, an executive Labour councillor for climate action and environment, said a lot of work had gone into finding the best option and she said the new contract was the “best option in these circumstances”.

She said she was “more than happy” to report back in six months or a year with data showing the impact and “totally disagreed” that there had been a lack of consideration about the carbon footprint.

Ms Moore said an additional 400 tonnes of waste would be recycled every month at the Northern Ireland facility.

An amendment asking for the contract to be deferred did not gain enough support to pass.