Defra awards £181.6m in PFI funding
2 October 2008
Defra has awarded £181.6 million in PFI funding towards two residual waste treatment projects in Leicestershire and South West Devon.
PFI agreements like this create a real incentive for local authorities and industry to work together to cut waste
Joan Ruddock
In Leicestershire, the Department has allocated £86.6 million to the county council for a PFI project to divert 98,000 tonnes of biodegradable municipal waste from landfill a year by 2020.
And, the remaining £95 million has been awarded to the South West Devon Waste Partnership - which comprises of the Plymouth city council, Torbay council and Devon county council - covering the districts of South Hams, Teignbridge and West Devon. This will be used to help divert 293,000 tonnes of waste from landfill a year by 2020.
Tenders for the two projects are now expected to be advertised in the Official Journal of the European Union "shortly".
Announcing the decision today, waste minister Joan Ruddock said: "Reducing our reliance on landfill is an essential part of the drive to tackle climate change and I welcome the ambitious commitment made by Leicestershire and three authorities in the South West.
"PFI agreements like this create a real incentive for local authorities and industry to work together to cut waste and make better use of the waste we do create, as well as reducing our impact on the environment," she added.
Leicestershire
In Leicestershire, the county council has stressed that no decision has been taken on the residual waste treatment technology which it will develop. A variety of technologies are being considered including autoclave systems - which treat waste with steam - energy from waste, gasification, mechanical biological treatment and pyrolysis.
The council has already bought two plots at the Interlink business park in Bardon, north west Leicestershire, to give private companies a choice of potential sites for a waste treatment facility. Bidders can now propose options and technologies for the Bardon site, the council's existing Whetstone site, or any sites they propose themselves.
Nick Rushton, Leicestershire's cabinet spokesman for waste, said: "We cannot afford to do nothing - if we continue to put thousands of tonnes of waste into landfill sites, we will run out of space and have to pay millions of pounds in penalties.
"We are one of the top performing councils for recycling but there will always be waste leftover which we cannot keep sending to landfill. We want to find the best process to treat waste and reduce the amount that is landfilled but have made no decision on technology. We now have two sites to give potential operators a choice - but they are also free to suggest their own site," he added.
At the moment, 230,000 tonnes of Leicestershire's household waste is sent to landfill each year. Each tonne of waste incurs Landfill Tax from the Government and this bill could increase by £1.4 million per year if landfilling continues at the current rate.
The county council is working to minimise waste and to boost recycling and composting to 58 per cent - but said that would still leave some waste that will have to be treated or landfilled.
Devon
In South West Devon, meanwhile, the waste partnership has identified energy from waste as its preferred technology (see letsrecycle.com story) and has identified potential sites including Ernesettle in North West Plymouth and Coypool.
The ultimate solution and site will be decided by the successful bidder, once tendering has taken place.
Plymouth city council, Torbay council and Devon county council have already been working hard to increase their recycling rates, and are aiming to achieve a combined level across the partnership of 50 per cent by 2019 as part of the project.
Plymouth has already exceeded 31%, Devon has exceeded 50%, and is aiming to achieve 60% by 2020, whilst Torbay has reached 28%.
Even with efforts to minimise waste and promote recycling and composting, due to an increased number of households, it is predicted that there will be around 200,000 tonnes of waste that can't be recycled and will need treatment.
Plymouth City Council Cabinet Member for Street Scene and Environmental Regulation, Councillor Michael Leaves said: "We are delighted that the partnership bid has been successful. Developing a sustainable long term solution to managing our waste is vital - we cannot continue to rely on landfill.
"We have to plan for the future and to have something in place that will enable us to dispose of the waste that we cannot reuse or recycle," he added.
Councillor Margaret Rogers, Devon county council's executive member for environment said: " Burying our rubbish in the ground is damaging to the environment and is becoming more and more expensive. We have to pay landfill tax and will be fined for every tonne of degradable waste that is landfilled above limits set by the government. This could affect everyone's council tax bills."
Councillor Chris Lewis, Torbay council's cabinet member for economic reegeneration, transport and planning, added: "Torbay Council is keen to promote waste minimisation via education and encouragement. However, for the waste that cannot be recycled, we believe that energy from waste is the most sustainable way forward and our best option to avoid landfill, and that working in partnership with other local authorities is the best way forward."
OBC
The outline business case for PFI funding in South West Devon estimated that the scheme could cost Plymouth £660 million, £621m for Devon and £300m for Torbay over a 30-year period. The total cost for all the authorities over the period is £1,582 million - but not having a waste solution would cost £1,902 million, taking into account escalating costs of landfill and associated taxes.
The bid took almost a year to put together with representatives from each authority working through complex scenarios and forecasts.
Factors taken into account included increased landfill tax, decreasing limits on the amount of waste that can be landfilled, increased population and waste created, increased investment into recycling and composting initiatives, new government and EU directives, design and technical issues for waste management facilities, environmental and planning issues and meeting extremely tight pollution control standards.
The partnership is now keen to hear points of view from local communities across the region. A series of roadshows are being held at venues across the region to provide information about the project and the partnership's work to develop a solution that meets the needs of the local community.
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