The Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority is currently looking at possible financial and strategic arrangements for its five member councils – Knowsley, Liverpool, St Helens, Sefton and Wirral – once existing contractual arrangements come to an end.
Discussions within the MWDA are expected to lead to a contract being put out to tender in 2005, but there are currently a range of options on the table.
The authority, established in 1986 following the abolition of the Merseyside County Council, has an annual revenue budget of around 32 million. It currently runs two major contracts through its local authority waste disposal company, Mersey Waste Holdings Limited, disposing of waste collected by its council members and running 13 Waste Reception Centres in the Merseyside area.
In 2001-02, about 670,000 tonnes of household and commercial waste was managed by the authority, of which about 6% was recycled, the remainder being disposed of in landfills in the Merseyside area and the neighbouring regions.
Speaking to letsrecycle.com, MWDA director Carl Beer said that the authority already has a short-term strategy to reach recycling targets of 10% by the end of this year and 18% by 2005. The Authority is now working on a long-term, 25-year strategy for the period after 2008, a strategy that should be completed in about 12 months.
Options
“There are all sorts of possibilities,” Mr Beer explained. “One of the options the Waste Disposal Authority is looking at is a pan-Merseyside strategy, which could be similar to Hampshire's partnership. We believe there are economies of scale to be had by going down that route.”
Hampshire's Project Integra currently sees 14 county, district and unitary authorities and the Onyx-owned contractors Hampshire Waste Services forming a successful waste partnership. Averaging 21% recycling among the council members, Project Integra's recycling rates have only been limited by the availability of sorting and processing infrastructure.
Mr Beer explained that the Project Integra route was only one option being considered – there is the possibility, for example, of Liverpool city council going it alone, perhaps using the mechanical biological treatment plant recommended by Shanks Waste Services (see letsrecycle.com story).
But the need for adequate processing infrastructure is at the forefront of the authority's discussions, its director said.
“The main thing we are working out at the moment is how the capital financing is going to work,” he said. “There's the Hampshire route, there's the PFI route and we also have to consider the future of the LAWDC, and how that might fit in. It's early days, but we are aiming for a flexible series of facilities and are looking at the new technologies available.”
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