Essex hands Veolia 115m recycling centre contract

Veolia beat off competition from five other companies to win the contract, including Amey Cespa, FCC, May Gurney, SITA UK and Urbaser.

From November 2013, Veolia will manage 21 household waste and recycling centres on behalf of the council, adding ten sites in the south of the county to the eleven sites the firm previously operated in the north.

The firm will take over the running of the ten recycling centres in the south from previous contractor, the waste management company May Gurney. Veolia said the move to integrate the operation of all the countys recycling centres was designed to maximise the efficiency and cost effectiveness of the service.

Furthermore, Veolia will also operate five new waste transfer stations which are currently in development in Harlow, Great Dunmow, Chelmsford, Braintree and Colchester/Tendring. Construction and handover of the waste transfer stations is expected to be completed by summer 2014 and will create 17 new jobs, Veolia said.

Planning permission

The waste transfer stations are being built to support the delivery of new waste treatment facilities in the county, including a mechanical biological treatment (MBT) plant on Courtauld Road in Basildon, which was granted planning permission in February 2013. Construction of the plant, which will have the capacity to process 450,000 tonnes of municipal waste per year, is expected to begin in Spring 2013 and take 16 months to complete (see letsrecycle.com story).

The MBT plant is being developed by the Urbaser Balfour Beatty consortium as part of an 800 million 25-year waste treatment contract awarded by the Essex Waste Partnership which includes the county council and its 12 district and borough councils in June 2012 (see letsrecycle.com story).

Keith McGurk, Veolia Environmental Services regional director (east), said: We are very pleased to be able to develop the existing partnership between Veolia and Essex county council. The new contract should produce economies of scale and increase sustainability with the aim of helping the Council to turn more waste into a resource.

Councillor Roger Walters, cabinet member for waste and recycling said: Our new integrated waste services contract will ensure that we continue to deliver the best waste management services whilst providing value for money for Essex residents.

He added: We are determined to deliver sustainable waste management solutions whilst increasing recycling rates, and our new partnership with Veolia will help us to achieve this.

Essex households are currently recycling and composting more than 50% of their waste, with the council aiming to boost this figure to 60% by 2020