The North London Waste Authority has announced that it plans to submit an Outline Business Case to Defra before the end of this month in a bid to secure a record £520 million in PFI funding for its MBT-based waste treatment project.

Representatives from the Authority's seven member councils will be asked to approve the OBC on October 29, allowing it to be submitted for funding before the October 31 deadline for the current round of PFI awards.

And, if the bid is successful in securing the full £520 million, it would represent the largest single award of PFI credits for a waste disposal project, dwarfing the £122.4 million Staffordshire county council was awarded in July 2008 (see letsrecycle.com story).

The reference project for the North London Waste Authority's (NLWA) contract, which is believed to be worth in the region of £3 billion, would include the provision of two MBT facilities, a combined heat and power plant, two new materials recycling facilities (MRFs) and both composting and anaerobic digestion plants.

It would also see the development of four new and refurbished civic amenity sites and the creation of a sustainable transport solution for waste involving rail and/or water transport.

Commenting on the contract, the chair of NLWA, councillor Clyde Loakes, said: "The NLWA is seeking a 21st century solution to managing waste in the area.

"As an Authority we believe that prioritising waste prevention, reuse, recycling and recovery over current disposal methods will enable us to manage our waste in the most affordable and environmentally friendly way we can.

"We hope that this approach will not only help us reduce north London's carbon footprint but will also enable us to offer our residents the best possible solution for managing waste into the future," he added.

Recycling

The NLWA - which comprises Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Hackney, Haringey, Islington and Waltham Forest councils - is aiming to increase its recycling rate from a current 24% to 50% by 2020, while also cutting the amount of waste is sends to landfill from 36% to 15%.

And, it hopes to have the facilities proposed within the PFI contract up-and-running by the time its existing waste disposal contract expires in 2014.

While the Authority has stated that PFI is one of a "range of funding routes" it is looking into for the project, its head of waste strategy and contracts, Andrew Lappage, said last week that it was following the PFI route due to the cost of the project raising "serious affordability issues" (see letsrecycle.com story).

The NLWA has already moved to identify potential sites for facilities and, while the exact location of those sites has not yet been revealed, it is "looking likely" that they will be in the Hendon and Upper Lee Valley areas.