Four bidders shortlisted for Milton Keynes contract

Milton Keynes council has announced a shortlist of companies which are in the runningto treatthe authoritys residual black sack waste, for an operational period of between 10 and 15 years.

The contract, which involves treating around 80,000 tonnes of residual waste per year, was first advertised in the Official Journal of the European Union in June 2011 (see letsrecycle.com story).

It is expected that the new facilities will divert waste by some additional recycling and then those wastes that cannot be re-used or recycled will be diverted away from landfill through the generation of energy.

Milton Keynes council is offering a site in its ownership at Dickens Road, Old Wolverton on which to build the new facilities.

The council said it was only seeking solutions which comply with its no mass burn incineration policy, treating waste as a valuable resource and driving it up the waste hierarchy.

The authority is also expected to provide funding from its own sources and wishes to explore various approaches to maximise resource recovery, energy and value from available technologies.

The council had sought to jointly procure facilities with neighbouring Northamptonshire county council, under the banner Project Reduce, but decided to end the partnership after the project lost its PFI credits in October 2010 (see letsrecycle.com story).

Bids were invited from single entity companies, consortia, and joint ventures. The four short-listed bidders are:

• Amey Cespa
• FCC working with WRG
• New Earth REMONDIS Consortium
• Viridor

Response

Andy Hudson, the councils head of environment and waste, commented: We are extremely pleased with the response from the industry and believe that the four bidders selected represent a strong field which will bring both UK and Europe-wide experience in developing an excellent solution for Milton Keynes.

The companies will now be invited to develop detailed solutions as the next stage of the competitive dialogue process that is being employed.

From these four bidders, two or three will be selected to develop solutions for final submission in the summer of 2012. It is anticipated that the preferred bidder will then be selected in September 2012.