The council has conducted an extensive procurement exercise to find a private sector company to develop and deliver services and infrastructure in partnership with the council. This project is known as the Bedfordshire Energy and Recycling (BEaR) Project.
The shortlist decision was made on January 31 2012 by the BEaR Project Board made up of senior council officers and managers.
While waste management company Viridor and organic recycling and renewable energy company New Earth are very well known names in the UK waste management sector, Remondis has, up until now, had a relatively low profile. Remondis is a German-owned international recycling and environmental services company which entered the UK market in 1962 as Lokas Ltd and now specializes in hazardous waste treatment under the name Remondis UK.
In March 2011, Central Bedfordshire announced that it was working with four potential partners (see letsrecycle.com story) and since then has been working with the companies to progress the technical, legal and financial aspects of their proposed solutions.
With two of the four bidders Covanta and Veolia now deselected, the remaining two companies shortlisted to progress to the next stage will further refine and develop their proposals.
Waste
The successful contractor will be responsible for managing around 65,000 tonnes-per-annum of residual waste and 35,000 tonnes-per-annum of organic waste.
A spokeswoman for Central Bedfordshire explained that the final value of the contract would not be known until it is awarded, however, the councils Reference Project was valued at 397 million.
Due to the confidential nature of the procurement exercise, the council said it would not be releasing detailed information about bidders’ solutions at this stage. But, both of the shortlisted solutions involve the development of facilities at the council owned site at Thorn Turn near Dunstable and will include:
- A treatment solution for dealing with the household waste that is left over after recycling, which delivers environmental improvements over disposing of this material to landfill
- A solution for treating residents’ separately collected organic material, including kitchen and garden waste, to increase composting rates
- One brand new and three refurbished Household Waste Recycling Centres designed to improve access and safety and provide increased opportunity for recycling
Milestone
Cllr Budge Wells, assistant executive member for sustainable communities services, said: “I’m very pleased that this important project is progressing as planned and has now successfully completed another key milestone in delivering much needed infrastructure to provide a long term solution for the council’s waste.”
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“For the waste that cannot viably be recycled or composted, the remaining bidders have proposed modern solutions that will have a minimal impact on the local environment and deliver significant environmental benefits.”
“The council remains committed to achieving its aim of recycling or composting 60% of its waste by 2020 and the proposed solutions will assist us in meeting this target.”
The final tenders stage will be completed by Autumn 2012, with a preferred bidder being selected. It is expected that following final due diligence the contract award will take place at the end of the year.
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