A consortium led by SITA UK was announced as the preferred bidder for the 30-year contract in April, which includes the development of an energy-from-waste (EfW) facility in Teesside, as well as a new rail hub in Kirkby to transport waste from Merseyside to the EfW plant (see letsrecycle.com story).
However, Liverpool Mayor Joe Anderson yesterday (May 29) hit out at MRWAs huge decision, suggesting that an unsuccessful rival bid from Covanta which would have seen waste disposed of locally should have been given more consideration as it would have brought investment opportunities to the area.
The Mayor said: I feel the city and the wider city region has had a massive opportunity for major infrastructure investment snatched from its grasp and hundreds of potential jobs which we desperately need have gone to the North East.
He added that he should have been involved in such a huge decision as Liverpool was contributing more to the MRWA than any other authority and questioned why he had to read about the decision in a press release after the decision was made.
He said: I also want to understand how it can be more environmentally friendly and more cost effective to ship the waste of Merseyside all the way to Teeside some 150 miles away rather than dispose of our own waste locally.
Disappointed
In response, MRWA said it was disappointed that the Mayor had made no contact with the Authority on this issue previously and defended its competitive procurement exercise.
‘I want to understand how it can be more environmentally friendly and more cost effective to ship the waste of Merseyside all the way to Teeside some 150 miles away rather than dispose of our own waste locally.’
Joe Anderson, Mayor of Liverpool
MRWA added that the SITA consortium project had the support of all six district councils that form the Merseyside and Halton Waste Partnership. The Partnership includes Liverpool city council, as well as Halton borough council and Knowsley, Sefton, St Helens and Wirral metropolitan borough councils.
MRWA said: SITA beat Covanta to reach their Preferred Bidder status as part of a competitive tendering exercise which was scrutinised by the nine elected members (from constituent district councils including three councillors from Liverpool city council) that make up the Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority governance structure.
According to MRWA, the SITA UK consortium bid will bring savings of 145 million to its partner councils compared to the current landfill costs.
The Authority said: MRWA, through this contract, will divert more than 90% of Merseyside and Haltons residual waste away from landfill, and will ensure that this region complies with its requirements under the European Union Landfill Directive. The SITA solution will also play a key part in combatting climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions created by landfill.
MRWA also added that the Teesside plant would create 50 permanent jobs, while around 25 permanent jobs would be created by the rail hub development in Kirkby, Merseyside.
SITA UK bid
The proposed contract with SITA UK is part of the final stages of a resource management project which will involve the treatment of 430,000 tonnes of residual municipal waste per year which the Authority handles.
The successful bid from SITA will see the firm working in partnership with energy and utilities giant Sembcorp UK and investment firm I-Environment (part of the Japanese Itochu Corporation) as part of the SITA Sembcorp UK consortium to develop an energy from waste facility with combined heat and power at the Wilton International site in Teesside, a site owned by Sembcorp.
The consortium will also develop a new rail hub at the existing Potter Group Rail Freight Terminal at Kirkby on Merseyside for the transportation of waste to the Teesside plant. Both facilities already have planning permission and will require a capital investment of 250 million.
MRWA is now working with the SITA consortium to move towards financial close, which is likely to be in late 2013 or early 2014. The Wilton Energy from Waste plant is expected to take two years to build and the contract is expected to start handling waste in 2016.
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