The metropolitan district told letsrecycle.com last week it believes a new 400 million, 25-year waste disposal contract will include “at least some” thermal treatment capacity using technologies like gasification or energy-from-waste incineration.
” We will try and get a solution as high up the waste hierarchy as possible, but we think we need at least a partial thermal solution. “
– Jill Campbell, Bradford MBC
The council – which intends to put out a tender for the contract in the Spring – stressed that in its outline business case for the contract would probably not give a technology preference.
But the unitary authority said thermal technology was more suited to meeting the city's landfill allowance trading scheme (LATS) targets than pre-treatment technologies like mechanical biological treatment (MBT).
When the council's executive initially discussed incineration as an option for the contract, the idea met with some anti-incineration sentiments.
However, the council explained that in Bradford and the surrounding areas there are few sites requiring restoration – and therefore no obvious local markets for low-grade compost produced by MBT. MBT treats mixed wastes through a combination of physical separation techniques – removing recyclable glass, metals and plastics – and biological composting or digestion.
Jill Campbell, waste project manager at Bradford council, said: “We will try and get a solution as high up the waste hierarchy as possible, but we think we need at least a partial thermal solution – as we need to meet LATS targets and there is a problem locally in relying on non-thermal solutions.”
Shortlist
Bradford, which has an unaudited recycling rate of around 22%, is currently drawing up a shortlist for a second 5-year, 25 million “interim” waste disposal contract to begin by 2009, which the council hopes to award in February (see letsrecycle.com story).
The council currently sends 78% of its waste, which is around 150, 000 tonnes a year, to landfill sites run by Waste Recycling Group and Yorwaste.
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Ms Campbell said: “One of the benefits of an interim contract is to meet the first LATS targets and also to test the technology. We're hoping we'll have had some experience by the time we come round to choosing a long-term solution – it is a risk reduction exercise.”
Richard Wixey, strategic director of environment and neighbourhoods at Bradford, said: “The council is keen to find a method of dealing with its waste which balances value for money and impact on the environment. At this point we are seeking the public's view on what is important before we make these decisions.”
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