The group – which is comprised of Gateshead council, South Tyneside council and Sunderland city council – unveiled the list as part of its plans to tackle 200,000 tonnes-a-year of residual waste arisings and boost all three councils' recycling rates to 50% by 2020.
We are extremely pleased with the high level of interest in the contract from a range of national and international leading waste specialists
John Robinson, South Tyne and Wear Waste Partnership
The eight bidders for the contract, which is believed to be worth up to £1.3 billion, are: technology firm Graphite Resources; German energy-from-waste specialist MVV Umwelt; Cumbria-based Shanks Group; waste management firm SITA UK; utilities firm United Utilities Networks; Spanish waste treatment firm Urbaser S.A, which is already involved in the Hereford and Worcestershire waste PFI; UK waste and recycling company Veolia Environmental Services; and, the waste subsidiary of defence firm VT Group, VT Environmental Engineering.
John Robinson, group director local environmental services at Gateshead council and leader of the Partnership, said: “We are extremely pleased with the high level of interest in the contract from a range of national and international leading waste specialists. We will consider all types of treatment technologies and are confident that this approach will achieve the best value solution for our residents.”
“We need to get more value out of our rubbish, rather than just disposing of it. We are committed to doubling our recycling rates to 50% by 2020, as an absolute minimum. We then have to treat the rubbish that's left – it's up to us to find the best solution,” he added.
The consortium has said that it intends consider all treatment technologies for the project, despite having based its successful bid for £73.5 million in PFI credits on reference technologies of energy-from-waste with combined heat and power (CHP) and mechanical biological treatment with aerobic digestion (see letsrecycle.com story).
Contract
A value for the contract was not attached to tender when it was published in the Official Journal of the European Union in September (see letsrecycle.com story), but, the Outline Business Case suggested a cost based on the reference technologies of between £900,000 million and £1.3 billion.
The partnership area currently produces 355,000 tonnes of residual waste annually, of which only 27% of is currently recycled. In the short to medium term, the partnership aims to recycle 30% of waste by 2010, 45% by 2015, before achieving its long term goal 50% by 2020.
The competing companies, which were drawn from 12 pre-qualification responses, are now expected to return their outline solutions in April 2009, with a winning bidder and technology option expected to be chosen by December 2010 ahead of scheduled operational date of 2014.
The Partnership also intends to let a separate contract for the provision of a new kerbside recycling collection system, which is scheduled to be introduced in 2010, and also plans to upgrade households recycling centres and develop better systems to treat garden waste and handle bulky waste.
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