Environment minister Elliot Morley is to confirm the PFI award at a special meeting in Lancashire later today with the funding credits representing the capital side of a 25 year contract to handle waste in the county. The work, to be tendered early in the New Year, will be organised by the disposal authorities within the Lancashire Waste Partnership – Lancashire County Council, Blackpool Borough Council and Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council.
The contract will be worth about 110 million and will provide waste disposal and recycling routes for waste from a population of 1.4 million people in Lancashire. Nine
'state-of-the-art' waste management facilities, capable of processing
900,000 tonnes of waste per year, will be built. These will consist of four central waste treatment facilities capable of treating municipal waste through MBT and five transfer stations to serve the central facilities. All nine facilities will have the capacity to compost green waste and receive recyclate.
Friendly
The Lancashire Waste Partnership said the project will be a comprehensive way to deal with waste “in as environmentally friendly way as possible”. Plans are to reduce the amount of waste landfilled by 80%, or 720,000 tonnes per year, through recycling, composting and Mechanical Biological Treatment.
Those behind the PFI bid say they are expecting to achieve a recycling rate of 60% by
2015 and are also confident that the system will exceed all targets set by
the European Landfill Directive.
Lancashire County Council leader, Councillor Hazel Harding, said: “Waste management is a vital part of our contribution to a clean and healthy environment for the residents of Lancashire. Thanks to the work of the Lancashire Waste Partnership we have succeeded in gaining government backing
for the largest-ever waste project of this kind in the country.”
Mr Morley said: “I am very pleased to be able to approve this scheme. The Lancashire authorities have worked very effectively together to put forward a compelling business case grounded in consultation with local people about the waste solution they want to see for the future.
Smart solution
“The project is not only an example of the smart environmental solution, but it shows what local authorities can achieve if they work together and with government to design solutions that fit both the national and local policy agendas.”
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs explains that MBT is a term used to describe “a process which treats residual municipal after source segregated recycling has taken place.” The Department says that there are a variety of processes which fall into this category with each generally involving:
- Waste preparation and separation
- Additional recovery of materials
- Stabilisation of the bio-degradable fraction
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