Four left in race for North Yorkshire waste contract

North Yorkshire county council and city of York council have named the UK's largest waste firm – Veolia Environmental Services- and US-owned energy-from-waste specialist Covanta – as candidates for its long-term residual waste treatment deal.

Also in the running is a consortium between Oxford-based service company Amey and Spanish waste treatment firm Cespa, a subsidiary of Grupo Ferrovial which is best known in the UK for taking over the running of airports such as Heathrow.

A partnership between engineering company Earthtec – which is currently helping to boost recycling rates in the Western Isles- and construction giant Skanska has also been selected.

The companies and consortia were chosen from a list of 10 companies which submitted outline business proposals to North Yorkshire and York to divert 70% of waste in the region  and to divert 80% of biodegradable waste from landfill.

Although no technology has been specified, all the bids aim to boost household recycling and composting to 45% by 2013 and 50% by 2020.

A spokesperson for North Yorkshire council said: “North Yorkshire and city of York today announced a shortlist of four organisations who will be invited to submit detailed proposals for the treatment of residual waste. They are: Amey/Cespa; Covanta; Earthec/Skanska and Veolia.

“The contract is set out at a Private Public Partnership under the Private Finance Initiative. The successful contractos will be required to develop and operate waste facilities for the authority including the preparation, finalisation and submission of planning applications,” the council added.

Partnership

North Yorkshire and city of York have been working with each other on waste management issues under the banner of the York and North Yorkshire Waste Partnership since 1999. The Partnership has adopted a joint municipal waste management strategy containing a range of targets and commitments.

Both councils hope to divert biodegradable waste from landfill in order to avoid penalties of up to £150 a tonne under the Landfill Directive if they go over their allowances.

Now the bidders will be invited to submit detailed proposals for the treatment of residual waste, which will be backed up by £65 million in government PFI credits.

The council said: “The waste treatment contract will ensure the councils contain future landfill within the allowance and avoid penalties.”