The contract notice published on Monday (11 December) explained that the contract, which had no length or tonnage specified, was awarded without publication of a call for competition due to “extreme urgency brought about by events unforeseeable for the contracting authority.”
This relates to guidance published by the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) last month, which banned the landfilling of waste upholstered domestic seating (WUDS) (see letsrecycle.com story).
Highland council, in anticipation of the guidance, said in September that it will provide a skip at 19 of its 26 recycling centres for the collection of WUDS while banning it at the other seven (see letsrecycle.com story).
Processing
In September, the council explained that collected upholstered furnishings and other waste contaminated with POPs will be directed to either the waste transfer station at the Seater Landfill or Longman. The location of where this would go next was not disclosed.
The notice on Monday explains that this will now be processed by Levenseat.
Under the contract, WUDS containing POPs collected from recycling centres will be transported to the transfer stations before processed at Levenseat’s energy from waste facility in Lanark.
Previously, this was sent to a council-owned landfill site.
The contract notice said: “The extreme urgency being brought on by imminent introduction of SEPA Guidance banning WUDS and POPs contaminated waste from landfill in an extremely and unforeseeable short timeframe resulting in the Council either having to cease accepting such waste (and be in breach of its statutory obligations under the Environmental Protection Act 1990) or being in breach of its statutory obligations in being a landfill operator.”
A spokesperson for Highland Council said: “Bulky household waste that cannot be sent through the Council’s existing EFW residual waste treatment contract is being sent for disposal at a Highland Council landfill Site. The element of Waste Upholstered Domestic Seating will now be diverted to the new contract with Levenseat Ltd. The contract will undertake the Treatment of any Waste Upholstered Domestic Seating or other waste that would be classed as Persistent Organic Pollutants.”
Bids
The council received three bids for the work, according to the notice, with two of them coming from small and medium sized businesses.
Highland council awarded a £58 million contract to Viridor for the treatment of its residual waste in 2022 (see letsrecycle.com story), as the authority moves away from landfill.
SEPA is to begin enforcement of the guidance from 1 January 2024.
Both Levenseat and Highland council have been approached for comment.
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