Four make the cut in MK and Northants PFI shortlist

The successful bidder will be expected to develop a waste treatment facility with the capacity to treat up to 400,000 tonnes of residual household waste a year, over a minimum of 25 years.

And, while the joint venture between the councils, Project Reduce, has stressed that no final decision on technology has been made yet, two out of four bidders are closely associated with energy-from-waste incineration.

This comes despite both councils having previously stated raised concerns over developing EfW facilities (see letsrecycle.com story), and the outline business case they submitted to secure PFI funding detailing mechanical biological treatment and in-vessel composting as its reference technologies.

The shortlist of bidders is:

• Birmingham-based waste management company Biffa;
• US energy-from-waste (EfW) specialist Covanta Energy;
• A consortium between UK waste company Shanks and US-based EfW technology firm Wheelabrator;
• Northampton-based Waste Recycling Group.

This means six of the names appearing on the original long-list named by the joint-venture in August 2009 (see letsrecycle.com story) are no longer in the running.

These are: a consortium between Amey and Cespa; a consortium between Greenstar and E.ON; MVV Umwelt; a consortium between United Utilities, John Laing and Laing O'Rourke; Urbaser SA; and, Viridor.

Commenting on the progress made so far, councillor Mike Galloway, cabinet member for environment, planning and growth at Milton Keynes council said: “We have had an enormous amount of interest in Project Reduce from some strong companies throughout the biding process so far.”

Next stage

The next stage of the 18-month competitive dialogue process will involve the remaining bidders submitting detailed solutions for the contract, with the councils stressing that the technology chosen would need to comply with all their policies – including those relating to planning.

Heather Smith, cabinet member for environment, growth and transport at Northamptonshire county council, commented: “We look forward to receiving more detail on the solutions the short listed companies are proposing.

“Decisions will be made taking into account both environmental and financial considerations, so that we get the best outcome residents of both areas,” he added.

Both councils have identified sites which could be used for the facilities, with Milton Keynes selecting a site at Old Wolverton and Northampton selecting one close to the A45 at Great Billing.

However, they have stressed that the bidders can also bring forward sites of their own, for the project which is expecting to be up-and-running by 2014.

Project Reduce received £138 million in PFI funding from Defra in November 2008 (see letsrecycle.com story).