The council is yet to make a decision as to what preferred treatment technology will be used, but officers and councilors have visited a number of facilities to assess the benefits of alternative technologies, including mechanical and biological treatment (MBT), energy from waste and anaerobic digestion.
Councillor Steve Smith, executive board member for environmental services, said: “We are keeping an open mind about the type of technology that we might use to deal with the city's waste. New technologies are emerging and the solution has to be the one that protects the environment, delivers value for money and is acceptable for local residents.”
Criteria that a potential contractor should meet were discussed at an executive board meeting last week (July 15), with residents' concerns being taken into consideration and told that they will be fully consulted throughout the process. In addition, all potential options will be scrutinized in terms of environmental impact and value for money.
“We asked residents and interested groups about what is most important to them when making this decision and this consultation will influence how we ultimately decide which process is best,” added Cllr Smith.
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The exact value of the deal will not be available until the contract is advertised in the Official Journal of the European Union later this month. Following advertisement of the tender, the council is hoping to appoint a contractor by the middle of 2010 and have the treatment facility operational by 2014.
Over the next four years, Leeds city council hopes to introduce a number of schemes to further encourage recycling, such as doubling the number of green bin collections, introducing garden waste and glass collection and providing black bin collection of food waste.
Cllr Smith added: “Recycling remains a high priority for the council and we are committed to achieving a minimum of 50% of the city's household waste by 2020. We are looking for a new treatment facility to deal with Leeds' non-recycled waste and significantly reduce the amount of waste currently sent to landfill.”
At present, Leeds city council produces around 340,000 tonnnes of waste per year, the majority of which is sent to landfill through contracts with Yorwaste and Biffa, and the council last year opened a £5 million MRF to sort 60,000 tonnes of comingled recyclable waste (see letsrecycle.com story).
The plan to advertise the contract comes shortly after fellow Yorkshire councils Bradford and Calderdale agreed a 25-year partnership to deal with their waste jointly.
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