Richmond Council may have lost out on the sale of 15,000kg worth of scrap metal left at Townmead Recycling Centre, an internal audit has warned.

The issue was raised at a meeting of its Audit, Standards and Statutory Accounts Committee.

The council has a contract with European Metal Recycling Ltd (EMR) which weighs and calculates the weight of scrap metal itself, using its own weighbridge.

This has caused some concern because the council also weighs the materials at its own weighbridge and has noticed a difference in the weights recorded.

The audit said materials should be processed through the council's weighbridge, and that this must be a requirement in any future materials contract. There is no suggestion of wrongdoing on the part of EMR.

Chair of the committee, councillor Peter Buckwell, expressed his disappointment at the findings.

He told officers: "You had a number of other issues where points are made that documents or information is missing, which basically every department across the council should have in place."

What metals are typically left?

Residents wishing to visit Townmead Recycling Centre must book ahead after it moved to an appointment-only system last month.

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The most common type of metal collected there (around 95 per cent) is what is known as Frag Freed, which consists of ferrous scrap, or basically anything with an iron or steel content.

Other materials collected are lead acid batteries, rolled aluminium, aluminium wheels, brass, copper, cabling, motors and lead.

The cost to the council[h3]

Richmond's audit analysis comparing the weights recorded by the depot and European Metal Recycling showed weight variances "all in favour of EMR" with a "potential loss of income to the council of scrap metal" of around 15,000kg between April 1, 2019 and September 30, 2019.

The monetary value of this is unknown, because this is only noted as a potential loss of income.

Likewise, each material is priced separately and these prices fluctuate, so any calculations on how much they are worth are time-limited.

The audit noted that this issue was taken up with EMR "without satisfactory resolution" and that the council depot has held back on releasing the more precious scrap metals.

[h3]What European Metal Recycling said[h3]

A spokesperson for EMR said: "As a leading metal recycler, we have facilities across the UK working with a wide range of customers including many local authorities. We are proud to work with Richmond Council on recycling their metal waste.

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"We have robust processes that enable us to be transparent with all of our customers. All of our weighbridges are certified and are often used as public weighbridges as well.

"We take concerns of this nature very seriously and are conducting a full investigation. We are hoping to meet with Richmond Council on Friday to resolve this matter."

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