But a local pressure group is warning the industry about opposition to any form of incineration in the county.
The Oxfordshire Waste Partnership (OWP), a partnership of the county's local authorities including the county council, is now evaluating pre-qualification questionnaires completed by a raft of companies last month.
This followed an industry day in the Said Business School in Oxford in April, which aimed to generate market interest in the contract and was attended by more than 50 waste management and technology companies.
Last year, a “soft market” review of potential interest from industry attracted interest from 25 companies (see letsrecycle.com story).
Treatment options
The Oxfordshire partnership is considering three treatment options – advanced thermal treatment, energy-from-waste and mechanical biological treatment – under a contract likely to cover a 25 year period.
The county council's head of waste management Andrew Pau said: “Early on, Oxfordshire county council decided on the procurement process being technology neutral, on the basis that the contract outputs are more significant than the technology utilised.
“The final decision on which of the three waste treatment options is chosen will be made on the basis of the best value for money option for Oxfordshire,” Mr Pau.
The contract tendering process has attracted some controversy from the community, with residents and the Oxford branch of Friends of the Earth attacking the energy-from-waste plant proposal. They object to burning waste in an incinerator.
Incineration
Andrew Wood from the local Friends of the Earth group said: “There is substantial opposition by Oxfordshire residents to burning our household waste in an incinerator.
“Outside of the council's consultation process there's been about 1,800 objections to incineration. Even the council consultation held last summer shows that of the 891 respondents to the survey then, there were another 430 objections to incineration, while only 24 supported it. Better recycling provision was also strongly supported.”
However, the council's Mr Pau told letsrecycle.com that the energy-from-waste facility is “widely and safely used in many European countries with high recycling levels and here in Britain” so would “be considered on equal terms with the other two options”.
He added: “Whatever option is chosen will need to be licensed by the Environment Agency, which is responsible for regulating waste treatment plants. They have strict rules for such licensing, and will not approve anything that is unsafe.”
Food waste
The Oxfordshire partnership is also in the process of a food waste procurement project. In a report published in May, officers have said this “processing has been slower than desired because of the resources needed to support the residual waste treatment contract”.
It adds that the food waste treatment plans continue to be supported by technical advisors, Entec, and that in the project team's latest meeting in May, it commented on the draft contract specification.
The council still hopes to meet its deadline of providing a food waste treatment facility by April 2009.
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