West Midlands partnership lowers waste projections
3 February 2010
Project Transform - a consortium of three West Midlands councils - has reduced its projections for future residual waste arisings in a move which could potentially have implications for its PFI-funded waste treatment contract.
Under the revisions, which are part of a periodic review carried out by the partnership, the three councils - Warwickshire county, Coventry city and Solihull metropolitan borough councils - identified that there would be 286,524 tonnes of residual waste produced in the region in 2042, as opposed to an original projection of 305,000 tonnes.
The 19,000 tonnes drop comes in the wake of waste data modelling carried out for the councils by environmental consultancy Enviros, which updated the 2006/07 data used in the original waste projections to reflect waste trends in 2008/09.
The three councils received £129 million in PFI funding in June 2009 based on Outline Business Case which had energy-from-waste as a reference technology with an expected capacity of 305,000 tonnes-a-year (see letsrecycle.com story).
The development of a large-scale waste treatment plant to be operational from 2016 is earmarked to replace the existing 240,000 tonnes-a-year capacity facility in Coventry.
In addition to develop their own treatment plant, the councils also have an arrangement in place to send 35,000 tonnes-a-year to Staffordshire county council's Four Ashes energy-from-waste facility, which is set to become operational in 2013.
Reduction
Despite the change in the figures, a spokeswoman for the Project told letsrecycle.com that the original 305,000 tonnes-a-year figure was simply "guidance" and it would be up to the shortlisted companies for the 25-year deal to propose "technology and capacity based on this [updated] information".
She said: "The initial run of the waste flow model was used for the Outline Business Case and was based on 2006/07 data, which was the most up to date available at the time. This indicated 305,000 tonnes.
"However, we fully expected this to change as new recycling schemes were put in place - and this is what is reflected in the re-run based on the 2008/09 data."
The spokeswoman insisted that the change would not have implications for the future of the waste PFI deal, she said: "The waste flow model and a commitment to re-run it with up-to-date data has been a key part of the process from the outset, supporting the robust delivery of the project."
Technology
The spokeswoman added that there had been "no technology or capacity decisions made yet". Although, last month, the councils named a shortlist of eight bidders for its long-term waste management contract which was populated by a number of firms with experience in energy-from-waste (see letsrecycle.com story).
Local campaign groups have heavily criticised the council partnership for its projections of waste arisings, claiming that Project Transform was based on the use of out dated information on waste arisings, and questioned the need for the proposed 305,000 tonnes-a-year capacity energy-from-waste facility (see letsrecycle.com story).
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Commenting on the revisions to the waste projections, chairman of the member advisory panel on Project Transform, Solihull councillor Kate Wild said: "At this stage we are not committing ourselves to these figures as we recognise they will change."
"However, running this model every time new data is available will help ensure that we make informed decisions that will deliver best value to the one million residents of the Coventry, Solihull and Warwickshire sub-region."
The councils said that they would continue to re-run the waste flow model each time new waste data became available right up to the close of the procurement process.
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