SITA UK is set to sign a contract believed to be worth in the region of 900 million with the West London Waste Authority (WLWA) for the treatment and disposal of residual waste next month.
The 25-year contract, due to be signed on October 18, will see SITA UK responsible for the treatment of 300,000 tonnes of household waste a year from six West London boroughs: Brent, Ealing, Harrow, Hillingdon, Hounslow and Richmond-upon-Thames.
SITA UK, which was named preferred bidder in April this year, will take control of two rail-linked waste transfer stations in West London as part of the deal. As a result, 53 WLWA staff will be TUPE transferred to SITA when the contract is due to start in in January 2014.
Once the waste has been sorted, shredded, or removed for recycling or alternative disposal, it will be transported to SITA UKs energy-from-waste (EfW) facility in Severnside, South Gloucestershire, which has already gained planning permission with construction set to start at the end of the year (see letsrecycle.com story).
The Severnside Energy Recovery Centre (SERC), to be commissioned in 2016, will generate electricity and could also supply hot water to local businesses. In the meantime, more waste will be sent to the Viridor and Grundon joint-owned Lakeside energy recovery plant in 2014/15.
Organics
The authority is also in the process of tendering its organic waste treatment services contract, which will include the bulking, collection, and transportation of the material.
At present, mixed food and garden waste from the authority is treated via IVC by Harefield-based West London Composting, while separate kitchen waste collections are treated by anaerobic digestion firm Biogen.
While the tender could bring a change in service providers, West London will continue to collect waste under its current arrangement with green waste, food waste and a mixed stream collected. The introduction of a new food waste collection service by Hillingdon council from October 2013 will also enable all households in west London to separate their food waste for composting.
The announcement follows West Londons six month Love Food Hate Waste campaign, which ran from October 2012 to March 2013. It cost 168,472 and involved all of the six boroughs (see letsrecycle.com story).
A household food waste prevention case study, issued by WRAP earlier this month stated households within the six boroughs cut their food waste by some 14%, which if achieved over a 12 month period would save the councils up to 1.3 million in food waste disposal costs.
Budget
WLWA told letsrecycle.com that having now received the WRAP data, the potential savings would be entered into its budget setting process for the next financial year.
Waste minimisation coordinator Sarah Ellis said: The amount of waste we dispose of has continued to decrease during 2013/14, its great to know that a large proportion of that results from the Love Food Hate Waste work weve been doing. We have a waste prevention strategy and each year we develop actions plans to reduce waste, this research will be fundamental in our planning for 2014/15.
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