Bristol to stop landfilling untreated waste by 2014

Bristol intends to divert the 176,000 tonnes of residual waste it produces each year into recycling, mechanical biological treatment (MBT) and a residual waste sorting process, which extracts recyclable material from residual waste.

Councillor Gary Hopkins, executive member of waste, said: We have already seen a major reduction in our waste in the last couple of years from 204,000 tonnes in 2003/04 to 176,000 tonnes this year, thanks to recycling innovations such as our successful communal bin schemes and extensions to our kerbside recycling services.

As part of our ambitious recycling strategy, we are committed to ending untreated landfill waste disposal and with these two new contracts finalised and ready to go, we are going to be able to meet this goal.

The contract with New Earth will commence in June and is phase two of the West of England Partnership a joint waste management arrangement with three other South West local authorities.

New Earth is currently constructing an MBT plant at Avonmouth on the outskirts of Bristol. The organics recycling specialist hosted a visit for representatives from the West of England Partnership to the site of the 200,000 tonnes-a-year capacity plant last month (see letsrecycle.com story).

Under the arrangement, Bristol intends to send 53,600 tonnes of residual waste-a-year to the plant, where recyclable material will be separated from the residual stream. A biomass-rich waste-derived fuel will be produced from the residual fraction that can be used in energy generation or in land remediation.

SITA

In addition, the city council officially announced that it had awarded SITA UK a five-year, 15 million waste disposal contract. The contract has an option to be extended for a further four years.

The deal will cover 47,000 tonnes of residual waste each year and will see the Maidenhead-based firm build a waste treatment facility in Avonmouth. The process will work on a similar basis to a materials recycling facility for dry recyclables but be used to separate residual waste as well.

The plant, which is intended to open in spring 2013, will be used to extract recyclable material and generate a solid recovered fuel (SRF), which can be used in energy generation. SITA will landfill waste for the first two years of the contract, however, it will develop an SRF treatment facility in order to divert all residual waste.

Vicki May, regional manager for SITA UK, said: In all of our existing operations across the city, we are focused on providing a professional service, delivering reliable solutions and using our resources effectively to support Bristols waste and recycling needs.

SITA UK currently handles kerbside waste and recycling collections for the council. However, a new collection contract is set to be awarded in November 2011.