AmeyCespas mechanical biological treatment plant in Cambridgeshire is likely to be out of action for another year following a mechanical failure in September 2012, the company revealed last night (January 8).
The news means that residual waste from homes in Cambridgeshire could continue being sent to landfill until early 2014.
The mechanical biological treatment (MBT) plant at Waterbeach has been closed since September 2012, when a beam linked to one of two composting turning wheels broke (see letsrecycle.com story). Since then, all of Cambridgeshires household residual waste has been sent directly to landfill.
AmeyCespa has since been carrying out a detailed investigation and while the final results are not yet complete, the company anticipates that turning equipment on both composting lanes will need to be replaced. The firm had previously hoped to get one of the lanes up and running while the broken one was being fixed.
AmeyCespa said this course of action would take time and that the new equipment was not likely to be commissioned until December 2013.
In a statement, the company said: We now anticipate that works will be required to replace the turning equipment on both lines.
It added: This type of equipment is highly specialist and requires bespoke design and manufacture for AmeyCespas Waterbeach facility. The time required to undertake the procurement, design, manufacture and installation phases of new equipment will mean that commissioning is unlikely to start until December 2013.
The investigation has taken longer than originally anticipated, due to the complexity and size of the equipment and the nature of the failure. However, this time has been essential to ensure we undertook full and thorough research into both the failure and the remedy required, as well as to protect the health and safety of our employees.
The equipment used at the MBT plant was manufactured by Swiss firm Kelag Holding AG, and installed by contractor BAM Nutall. The technology used at Waterbeach is not in use anywhere in the UK.
Landfill
In the meantime, all of Cambridgeshires household residual waste will be landfilled at the Waterbeach site.
“The time required to undertake the procurement, design, manufacture and installation phases of new equipment will mean that commissioning is unlikely to start until December 2013.”
– AmeyCespa
The MBT forms the centrepiece of a 28-year, 731 million PFI contract between Cambridgeshire county council and Donarbon (later acquired by AmeyCespa) for waste treatment and disposal (see letsrecycle.com story) and is supposed to treat up to 112,000 tonnes of residual waste from the council every year.
Ordinarily, the MBT plant extracts recyclables from the residual using mechanical separation before breaking it down biologically. The process reduces the wastes mass by approximately 50%, with just the remaining compost like output sent to landfill.
‘Frustrating’
Cambridgeshire county council described the situation as frustrating. It said: AmeyCespa have confirmed to the county council the work required to repair their MBT plant at Waterbeach is substantial and means the plant might not be back in full operation until 2014.
Clearly this is a very frustrating situation for all of us but does highlight the nature of the mechanical breakdown and the need for the detailed investigation which has taken place.
Cambridgeshire county council will not be financially impacted by the failure as AmeyCespa pays the landfill tax for the material.
The council said: Due to the robust PFI contract the County Council has in place – the authority and therefore the Council Tax payer is protected from any additional costs incurred because of the breakdown. With the MBT not functioning for the next year, the landfill tax charges associated with landfilling the black bin waste are paid by AmeyCespa. This highlights the measures which the county council put in place to ensure the risks of running the contract lay with the private sector not the tax payer.
Priority
The council said the priority for AmeyCespa is to focus on bringing the plant back into operation and to continue to investigate ways to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill.
AmeyCespa said it is committed to working with Cambridgeshire county council. It added that replacing the equipment at the Waterbeach plant will ensure a robust and reliable facility is developed and designed which will serve the black bag waste needs to Cambridgeshire for the duration of the remaining contract period.
The company plans to keep local residentsup-to-date with the next steps and timescales.
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