The incinerator proposal forms a central thrust of the 25-year waste disposal contract with waste firm SITA UK, agreed by the county council late last month (see letsrecycle.com story).
” It is also not true to say that CCC will be committed to delivering specific tonnages to SITA for incineration, or Cornwall could face financial penalties. “
– Cllr Adam Paynter, Cornwall CC
The county council has decided its preferred site for a 240,000 tonne-capacity incinerator will be at Rostowrack Farm, between Newquay and St Austell. The Victoria Business Park, just a few miles from the Rostowrack location, has been named as reserve site.
Subject to planning approval and the relevant permits from the Environment Agency, the council hopes the energy-from-waste facility will begin operating in 2011/12.
Concerns
The council's executive member for environment and heritage, Cllr Adam Paynter, has now written to local and trade media to respond to concerns that the incinerator would be a “hungry monster that will be fed at the expense of recycling and composting”.
He said: “Concerns have been expressed that the proposed Energy from Waste (EfW) incinerator for Cornwall will be a 'hungry monster' that will be fed at the expense of recycling and composting. That's not the case – because the contract with SITA has been written to protect against such an outcome.
“Cornwall County Council is as anxious as the public to protect, and indeed increase, recycling.
“It is also not true to say that CCC will be committed to delivering specific tonnages to SITA for incineration, or Cornwall could face financial penalties,” Cllr Paynter added.
Tonnage
Cllr Paynter explained that it was difficult to predict how much waste there would be to deal with under the forthcoming contract, which is backed by 45 million of government money through the Private Finance Initiative.
He said Cornwall currently produced about 330,000 tonnes of municipal waste each year, up from about 250,000 tonnes in 1998. The contract with SITA stipulates an expected minimum and maximum range between 250,000 tonnes and 520,000 tonnes, which SITA will have to deal with.
However, he insisted: “If the public separates 70% of its waste, the contractor will have to recycle 70% of the waste – and any shortfall to the 240,000 tonnes per year energy-from-waste facility is the contractor's responsibility.”
Should a shortfall of waste arise at the incinerator because recycling rates are higher than expected, Cllr Paynter said SITA would be permitted to accept commercial and industrial waste from outside the PFI contract to fill the spare capacity.
But, he stressed: “SITA is not permitted to take municipal waste from outside Cornwall.”
Commercial
Explaining the reasons why SITA would be allowed to take in commercial or industrial waste into the council-funded incinerator, Cllr Paynter said it would be a better option than landfill, which is used for most commercial and industrial waste at the moment.
Cornwall produces a similar amount of commercial and industrial waste as municipal waste, and if SITA does take in any non-municipal material into the incinerator, the PFI contract states that the council would share any income. This would include both income from gate fees for taking in the waste and also income from any electricity or heat generated from the waste.
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Cllr Paynter concluded: “It is often said that the devil is in the detail. In the case of Cornwall's waste management contract, the detail is where the desirability of the future plans for dealing with our waste become apparent.”
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