The chosen contractors include Agrivert, FCC, Shanks and Countrystyle Recycling who will be involved the processing of food and garden waste collected from Aylesbury Vale, Chiltern, South Buckinghamshire and Wycombe district councils.
Under the two-year contracts, which start in February 2016, around 17,000 tonnes of food waste will be processed using anaerobic digesters (AD).
Meanwhile, 41,000 tonnes of garden waste annually will be turned into saleable compost using open windrow composting.
Contracts
Food waste from Wycombe, South Buckinghamshire and Chiltern districts will be taken by Agrivert Limited to its Wallingford AD plant where treatment outputs include an organic bio-fertiliser produced to PAS110 standards.
The three districts’ green waste, along with green waste from the seven household waste recycling centres (HWRCs) in the south of the county, will be processed by Countrystyle Recycling Limited. The organics recycler will also manage the bulking and transfer or biowaste at High Heavens, Wycombe.
Aylesbury Vale’s food waste will go to Shanks Waste Management’s digester at Westcott Venture Park, near Aylesbury, while FCC Waste Services UK will handle the district’s green waste.
The interim two year contracts, with options to extend to five years, provide the council with time to plan a long-term biowaste treatment solution.
Warren Whyte, cabinet member for planning and environment, said: “These processes create the best environmental opportunities, generating renewable energy using biogas produced from food waste treatment, and leaving a residual digestate soil improver.
“Moreover, green waste will be turned into compost for horticultural and agricultural uses.”
Previous deals
The new arrangements follow previous two year interim contracts with Countrystyle Recycling and Agrivert for Chiltern, South Buckinghamshire and Wycombe district councils (see letsrecycle.com story).
The agreement saw Countrystyle receiving around 30,000 tonnes of mixed food and green waste from the three councils, which was treated at its in-vessel composting (IVC) facility in Kent or its open windrow plant in Hampshire. In addition, 10,000 tonnes of food waste was processed at Agrivert’s AD plant in Wallingford, Oxfordshire.
“These interim contracts will be good for our residents and the environment.”
Warren Whyte, cabinet member for planning and environment
Buckinghamshire county council
As the contracts were soon due to end, Buckinghamshire council began tendering the latest biowaste waste treatment contracts on behalf of the four local authorities in June 2015 (see letsrecycle.com story).
Recycling targets
Buckinghamshire reached 57% recycling rates for 2014/15, placing it high on the league table for UK councils.
Commenting on the awarded contracts, Mr Whyte said that this reinforced the county council’s commitment to achieve its target of recycling 60% of waste by 2020.
He said: “I’m very pleased we’ve been able to award these interim contracts. They’ll do a great deal to help us forge ahead to meet our recycling targets speedily, which will be good for our residents and the environment.”
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