Viridor pledges high levels of recycling for Manchester

Viridor is proposing to use mechanical biological treatment to process Manchester's waste

Along with its engineering partner John Laing Infrastructure, a division of John Laing plc, Viridor was appointed preferred bidder for the 3 billion Manchester PFI contract after a meeting of the city's waste authority on Friday (see letsrecycle.com story).

The Viridor/Laing consortium won preferred bidder status against a rival group made up of waste firm SITA UK, the Royal Bank of Scotland and property group Peel Holdings, parent group of Peel Environmental, a company aiming to develop refuse-derived fuel recovery plants. The SITA-led consortium has been named as reserve bidder by Manchester.

Viridor is proposing to build a range of recycling, composting and residual waste treatment facilities to handle the 1.4 million tonnes of household waste arising in the Manchester area each year.

The company said it would use staff already providing Manchester's waste services.

This is to include new materials recycling facilities, transfer loading stations and household waste recycling centres and in-vessel composting facilities. It will also see mechanical biological treatment, anaerobic digestion and thermal recovery plants used to recover value from the residual waste streams.

Viridor is also to provide landfill capacity for treated residues, though the company said its recycling and recovery facilities would “radically reduce the proportion of waste sent to landfill”, helping Manchester with its obligations under the government's Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme.

Viridor managing director Mike Hellings said: “The Viridor/Laing consortium is delighted to have been selected by GMWDA to deliver a 'world class' waste management solution. We are looking forward to finalising our focused proposals and working with the existing employees to deliver high levels of recycling, recovery and best value waste services for Greater Manchester in the years to come.”

The Manchester contract, which is backed by 100 million in Private Finance Initiative credits from the government, will see some 300 million invested in new infrastructure.

Commenting on the appointment of Viridor/Laing, Alan Hogg, John Laing Infrastructure director, said: “This shows that the partnership between Viridor and Laing is working successfully and we are pleased to see that there is an important role for private investment in the waste sector.”

The Manchester Waste Disposal Authority has the responsibility for waste disposal for the metropolitan districts of Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside and Trafford.

It includes nearly a million households in its catchment area, and is currently achieving a recycling and composting rate just above 22% for its household waste.