North Yorkshire county and City of York councils have announced that they hope to award their multi million pound waste and recycling contract to preferred bidder, AmeyCespa.
The partnership recently received confirmation from the government that it will receive £65 million in PFI credits, allowing it to move forward with the deal.
City of York council's executive will be asked whether to award the waste PFI to AmeyCespa at a meeting later this month (November 30). 
And, the final decision on York's involvement will be made on December 9. Members of North Yorkshire county council will decide on the proposals on December 15.
A statement released by City of York council said: “If agreed, the solution will allow York and North Yorkshire to reach, and even exceed, their target of recycling 50% of waste by 2020. It will also save the two authorities around £320 million on their combined waste management bills.”
Plans
AmeyCespa still needs to submit plans to build it waste treatment site at Allerton quarry and landfill site, close to the A1 motorway, near Harrogate. For the contract to be signed and finalised these plans must then be approved.
“The technologies include mechanical sorting and reclamation of around 20,000 tonnes a year of recyclable materials left in the waste which arrives at the facility; anaerobic digestion (AD) to treat garden and food waste and produce green electricity; and thermal treatment – energy from-waste or EFW – which could produce enough electricity to supply around 40,000 homes,” explained the statement.
If the contract does go through it will represent the first waste PFI deal to be won by the Spanish-owned, AmeyCespa, in the UK.
The company has been beaten to a number of PFI deals over the years. Most recently a partnership between Cory and Wheelabrator was chosen ahead of AmeyCespa as preferred bidder for Norfolk county council's multi-million PFI deal (see letsrecycle.com story).
The North Yorks PFI deal was delayed last year after being hit by the recession (see letsrecycle.com story).
It had hoped to evaluate final tenders in late 2008, but due to the economic situation during 2009 was only able to choose AmeyCespa as its preferred bidder earlier this year (see letsrecycle.com story).
The councils hope that the waste contract will save them a combined £320million over the life of the contract by significantly reducing the amount of waste going to landfill and reducing the amount of landfill tax the councils have to pay.
Contract success with the two local authorities would mark an increased foothold in the UK market for AmeyCespa, which purchased waste management firm Donarbon for £48.6 million in September 2010. Donarbon is responsible for delivering Cambridgeshire's waste PFI deal (see letsrecycle.com story).
Register for free to comment