The inclusion of glass is one contract area discussed in papers to be considered at a meeting this week of the Joint Waste and Recycling Committee which oversees the partnership’s activities.
The committee is also being recommended that due to materials market volatility, under the new contract it should confirm that all Dry Mixed Recycling (DMR) be handled by East Sussex county council at the expense of the districts and boroughs losing out on recycling credits.
Local authorities covered by the Partnership are Wealden and Rother districts and the boroughs of Hastings and Eastbourne while East Sussex county council, as the disposal authority, is also represented at committee meetings.
Five bidding applications were submitted for the new contract but one failed the financial evaluation. Therefore four bidders, subject to confirmation at the Committee meeting this week, will be invited to tender for the contract, which is available after Kier signalled it was to leave its contract with the partnership early in July 2019. Kier has cited ‘significant’ change in the recycling market (see letsrecycle.com story) as one factor behind its decision to quit the contract which had been due to end in 2023.
DMR disposal
Currently under the partnership’s recycling contract with Kier, glass is collected separately and sent to a sorting plant in Warwickshire.
The materials are sent outside of the county to Viridor’s MRF at Crayford. East Sussex county council sends some material to Veolia’s MRF at Hollingdean, which cannot accept glass and is operated under a PFI contract with East Sussex county council. The material is understood to be from Brighton & Hove council, which is also a signatory to the PFI contract. The partnership councils material is handled outside of the PFI contract and the paper to go the meeting, confirms that the new waste collection contract materials cannot be delivered to the Veolia facility.
Two options are to be voted on this week by the committee. The first is for the boroughs and districts to retain all the DMR material and put in place a separate disposal contract and agree new recycling credit programmes. The second is to deliver the DMR directly to East Sussex for it to “dispose of”, but recycling credits won’t be paid.
The committee paper carries a number of strong warnings to the boroughs and districts about the risks of retaining the DMR.
The committee report references a recent WRAP study, which highlighted a range of gate fees for DMR between £49 and £65 a tonne although it describes these as “illustrative and unlikely to reflect the market position in June 2019”, as well as the full impact of the Chinese restrictions.
“In light of this, the JWRC should consider who is best placed to manage the risk of future DMR gate fees, the volatility of the market and overall disposal costs”, the report comments. And, it also points out that the contractors to be invited to tender, have indicated they are not willing to take on the risk of handling the DMR. “This in itself speaks volumes”, said the report.
Recommendations
It has thus been recommended that the committee resolve that the risks and benefits associated with managing DMR be considered and it be agreed that East Sussex County Council are best placed to handle it. But, the committee is warned tht this approach could see possible increased costs to council taxpapers when compared to retaining the material.
East Sussex MRF
It is unclear which MRF East Sussex might take the partnership material to as Veolia is unable to adapt its Hollingdean MRF. However, it appears that alternative local options are emerging with the partnership needing to sort more than 50,000 tonnes of DMR per annum.
Below you can see the Veolia Hollingdean MRF in action
Last month East Sussex granted planning permission to Haulaway for a 40,000 tonnes per annum dry mixed recycled MRF on its site at Summerhill Lane, Hailsham (see letsrecycle.com story)
Haulaway, which is based in Hailsham, said its facility will be able to process over 40,000 tonnes of household waste per annum, including glass, and is currently being commissioned. The company said it hopes that the site will be fully operational before the end of the year.
[updated 4 April to correct MRF information]
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