Cambridgeshire MBT well ahead of schedule

Local waste management firm Donarbon expects the plant, which forms the centrepiece of its £730 million PFI contract with Cambridgeshire county council, will come online in November 2009.

Work on the facility at Donarbon's waste management park in Waterbeach, north of Cambridge, started just a month after the contract was agreed in March 2008 and has been led by principal contractor, civil engineering firm BAM Nuttall.

Nick Balmer, business development manager for waste at BAM Nuttall, said: “This has been much quicker than other similar projects and we are well ahead of schedule. We have come and hit the ground running.”

At the Waterbeach site, Donarbon and BAM Nuttall have already installed mechanical sorting equipment from German company Komptech which will remove recyclables from the waste. A giant Compost Turning Machine, from Austrian specialist Kelag, has also been included to help break the organic fraction of the waste down in a separate composting hall.

The process is expected to reduce the volume of the waste by 25% through the material extraction and a further 25-30% through the composting process – leaving behind a compost-like output. Subject to accreditation from the Environment Agency, Donarbon hopes to use the material in land restoration or to grow energy crops.

The process is also expected to reduce the biodegradability of the waste by 70% – helping Cambridgeshire to meet its landfill diversion targets.

Altogether, the facility will handle up to 179,000 tonnes of waste a year – allowing for population growth in Cambridgeshire and the possibility of taking waste from neighbouring local authorities in its early years.

Mark Shelton, waste promotions manager at Donarbon, said: “We have been approached by Suffolk and Norfolk and Peterborough to see if we can take some of their waste in the first few years. We have had to factor in the extra capacity and if the extra can be sold there is a profit sharing agreement with all parties involved.”