A conditional 16-year contract to develop a facility that would treat Kings Lynn and West Norfolk borough councils black bag waste is making progress, according to deputy council leader Brian Long.
This comes despite the fact that borough councillors have set up a working group to explore possible alternatives to its December 2012 agreement with Material Works, which would see the company recycle 35,000 tonnes of residual waste from the borough.
Cheshire-based waste management company Material Works claimed its proposals for a black bag treatment facility would be able to achieve a recycling rate of 90% and send zero waste to landfill, by producing a building material for the construction industry (see letsrecycle.com story).
Should the Material Works facility come to fruition, the borough council has said it will serve notice of its intention to withhold black bag waste from Norfolk county councils 500 million, 25-year waste treatment contract with Cory Wheelabrator.
West Norfolk councillor Brian Long told letsrecycle.com that the business case and financial due diligence for the Material Works contract had been fully approved and that the company was now required to build a working-sized demonstration of the technology before work could start on securing land and planning for a final facility.
‘Progress’
Councillor Long said Material Works were making progress to deliver the conditions set on the contract – the next big thing will be the acquisition of some land and a planning application.
‘Obviously as a prudent authority it is always good to look at alternatives and have a plan B.’
Councillor Brian Long, Kings Lynn and West Norfolk borough council
If they [Material Works] dont meet all the criteria by the required date then we need a plan B. And their procedures work I have seen them. Have they met the requirements so far? Yes they have. If they dont for any reason deliver we need to look elsewhere.
Commenting on the councils exploration of alternatives to the Material Works contract, councillor Long said: Obviously as a prudent authority it is always good to look at alternatives and have a plan B.”
Working group
Councillor Longs comments come ahead of Kings Lynn and West Norfolk borough councils regeneration, environment and community panel meeting tomorrow (November 27), at which an informal working group on black bin recycling is being set up to investigate alternative technologies for recycling black bin waste.
The group is set to meet monthly and will monitor the likelihood of the borough council needing to take advantage of alternative technologies for recycling black bin waste. It will present a final report on its findings back to the council in March or April 2014.
The establishment of a working group follows concerns regarding the Material Works contract that were raised by councillors sitting on the panel last month, with councillor Leamon questioning why more companies had not been involved in the tender process and asked what else could be done if the current contract failed.
Deputy leader of the borough council and portfolio holder for the environment, Brian Long, explained in response that at the time of agreeing the Material Works contract other ways of recycling waste had been investigated, but many of them still caused environmental damage or could not meet the required level of recycling.
He added that there were now other companies that worked with alternative technologies which could be investigated should the current contract fail.
A spokeswoman for the borough council said that a full update on the current progress on the conditional agreement is due from Material Works on Friday (November 29).
Norfolk
The borough council has been strongly opposed to Norfolk county councils PFI contract that would see the countys residual waste treated at the proposed 268,000-tonnes-per-year capacity Willows energy-from-waste (EfW) plant in Kings Lynn.
Norfolk county council is currently considering launching a Judicial Review application after Defra withdrew 169 million in funding credits for the proposed EfW plant. Following a public inquiry in May 2013, communities secretary Eric Pickles is set to make a final decision on the proposals in January 2014 (see letsrecycle.com story).
Technology
According to Material Works, residual black bag waste will be received at a facility near Kings Lynn with recyclable materials such as glass, ferrous metals and cardboard removed and sent away for recycling.
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The residual waste would then be put through an anaerobic digester, with the firms Saltus machines then processing composted material with additional plastics and other waste to create Omnicite pellets.
Material Works claims that these pellets can then be processed at the proposed facility to create a variety of products used in the construction industry, such as pallets made from a material the firm has developed called Rexlyon.
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