PFI agreements like these provide an incentive for local authories and industry to work together to achieve our goals of reducing the environmental impace of waste
Joan Ruddock
The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs today awarded £310 million to Leeds city council, Suffolk county council, Bradford metropolitan district council and the Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham Partnership.
The funding is aimed to help the UK meet its landfill directive targets by helping to divert over a million tonnes of waste from landfill.
Environment minister Joan Ruddock said today: “These are ambitious yet realistic projects which have risen to the challenge of supporting the whole waste hierarchy. They have contributions to make on minimisation, recycling and waste diversion. A combination of these activities is essential in our drive to tackle climate change.
“PFI agreements like these provide an incentive for local authories and industry to work together to achieve our goals of reducing the environmental impace of waste, by making better use and reuse of the waste we create. Importantly, each one of them is pursuing a solution which will achieve major carbon benefits,” she added.
Each of the four council waste projects receiving funding aim to reduce the overall amount of waste created and recycle at least 50% of waste 2020, with some aspiring to reach 60%.
The councils will also be considering the climate change impacts of its technology choice. They are all actively seeking options for Combined Heat and Power with an energy from waste or Mechanical Biological Treatment (MBT).
The PFI credits awarded to the four projects are:
• Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham Partnership – £77.4 million
• Bradford Metropolitan district council – £62.1 million
• Suffolk county council – £102 million
• Leeds city council – £68.6 million
It is expected that each authority will issue a notice of prospective bidders in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) soon.
Defra has £600 million to award in PFI credits for waste facilities in 2008/09.
To date, over £1 billion has been committed to support 23 waste PFI projects. There are currently 18 PFI projects in operation and five in procurement.
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