Gloucestershire prepares waste procurement plan

Councillors are expected to approve a detailed procurement plan laying out Gloucestershire's long-term waste management requirements, which bidders for the contract will be expected to meet.

This will involve a facility capable of handling around 150,000 tonnes of waste per year.

Last month, the council looked like it was leaning towards mechanical biological treatment which it had previously deemed “risky” (see letsrecycle.com story), however, councillors are now planning on keeping open minds over the technology, following advice from industry.

County councillor Stan Waddington, Gloucestershire's cabinet member for the environment, said: “We have now completed a careful analysis of all the waste technologies currently on the market and with the information we have, we believed the most sensible approach was to put together a list of requirements that we need the technologies to meet and ask the bidders to submit a proposal to meet these.”

“People we have been talking to within industry agree this is a sensible move at this stage. It will ensure we get exactly the facility we want and it will not delay the process at all,” he added.

Site

Following cabinet approval in July 2007, negotiations are continuing to purchase 12 acres of land at Javelin Park outside Gloucester, where the facility could be located, although the council is also looking at other potential sites.

Faced with spiralling fines and penalties for landfilling waste, the county council has drawn up a strategy to recycle and compost 60% of its household waste. At present, the local authority landfills about 200,000 tonnes of household waste every year, which will cost £6.4 million in landfill tax alone in 2008/09.

Cllr Waddington continued: “We have made it clear from the start that we want a facility which guarantees results, provides value for money, is environmentally friendly and helps to reduce climate change. The stakes are very high and we are determined to follow best practice to get the right result for the people of Gloucestershire.”