Biffa signs long-delayed 1bn West Sussex contract

Biffa has announced that it has formally signed a 25-year deal with West Sussex county council to treat the county's residual municipal waste using mechanical biological treatment (MBT), almost two years after being named as preferred bidder for the contract, which is though to be worth £1 billion.

Following today's (June 30) announcement, the Birmingham-based waste company is set to build the MBT facility – which will bring together mechanical sorting and anaerobic digestion technology – next to its Brookhurst Wood landfill site, near Horsham, in the north of the county.

The company received planning permission for the development in April 2010, and said it expects the facility to deal with up to 327,000 tonnes a year of residual municipal and commercial waste, sourced from “in and around” West Sussex.

German MBT and AD specialists Haase and Eggersmann are set to provide the technology for the plant, while German-based engineering firm M&W has been handed the engineering procurement construction, or EPC, contract for the project.

Commenting on the project, Biffa's environment and external affairs director, David Savory, said: “Biffa is delighted to embark upon this 25 year partnership with West Sussex county council to help achieve its ambition to be an innovator in recycling and resource management.”

Biffa was originally named as preferred bidder for the county's residual waste treatment contract in September 2008 (see letsrecycle.com story), when the aim was to sign the contract in March 2009.

At the time, the council expressed its disappointment that the government had “refused” to help fund the facility, either by PFI credits or returning landfill tax it had paid to it to help fund the infrastructure.

As part of today's announcement, Biffa revealed that the contract had been financed under prudential borrowing. This approach generally involves a loan being obtained by councils from the Treasury-run Public Works Loans Board, and has been used in other situations where local authorities have not pursued the PFI funding route (see letsrecycle.com story).

Processes

In terms of the processes to be used at the Brookhurst Wood facility, Biffa said it planned to treat the biodegradable fraction of waste that is mechanically sorted using AD, producing a biogas that would initially be used to generate renewable energy but could also be used to produce fuel for vehicles.

With its eventual capacity expected to allow it to produce 3.5MW of renewable energy, Biffa said it was also in discussions with a national house builder to supply digestate from the AD process as fuel for a combined heat and power plant to be built as part of a new ‘eco-housing' development in the county.

The mechanical sorting plant is also set to produce a refuse-derived fuel, with the council and company now planning to work together to find a “long-term, sustainable market” for the fuel – either sending it to a third party outlet or to fuel a thermal treatment facility – potentially being built on site – which would produce electricity and heat.