The recyclates are already being handled by Viridor Resource Management – the marketing arm of Viridor Waste Management – under a preliminary contract for the Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority (GMWDA).
Now the local authority report, published last month, noted that Viridor Resource Management has outlined its intention to keep the reprocessing of metals, glass, wood, textiles and WEEE collected under the PFI contract wholly within the UK.
However, the strategy also identified that materials traditionally exported for reprocessing, such as mixed papers and plastic, would continue to be sent to Europe and the Far East.
The decision to move the focus to UK facilities was identified in the nine-page report to Bolton council as part of Viridor's intention, under the 25-year agreement with the GMWDA, to “change and develop in complement to the PFI contract terms”.
Under the proposed change of export rates, only 10% of news and pams are set to be sent to Europe for reprocessing, with none going further afield, while just 10% of mixed paper will find its way to the continent and a further 10% to the Far East.
However, the amount of mixed plastic bottles sorted in the UK is expected to be only 50% of what is collected, with 30% going to Europe and the remaining 20% to China.
Routes
The document also outlines the current end markets for recyclable material collected in Greater Manchester and organised for reprocessing by Viridor.
According to the report, household recovered paper and card is collected loose in bulk from transfer stations in the Greater Manchester area, by Viridor, before being sent to St Regis Paper Company in Kent to be turned into corrugated carton paper.
Meanwhile, mixed plastic bottles are collected via Greenstar Environmental in Darwen, Blackburn, before being exported from Felixstowe or Liverpool to YSP International in China via Hong Kong.
Aluminium and steel cans are also moved through Greenstar at Darwen, with aluminium sent to aluminium recycling company Novelis and steel sent to steel giant Corus.
In the document, it is explained that the UK-focussed arrangements for reprocessing material are set to be put into place “once the proposed PFI contract is signed”.
The PFI-funded deal has taken two years to achieve financial close since a Viridor-Laing consortium was named as the preferred bidder for the 25-year award, which is believed to be worth £4.4 billion.
Earlier this month it was revealed that the GMWDA was receiving support from Defra as it looked to secure £200 million of funding for the deal from the European Investment Bank (see letsrecycle.com story).
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