The firm, which began processing the waste in July, will carry out the service on behalf of the Merseyside Recycling and Waste Authority (MRWA) until March 2016 – with an optional six month extension.
Under the arrangement, WSR Recycling Ltd converts the region’s non-recyclable waste into RDF at its local Widnes facility, which is then transported in bulk to Viridor’s 850,000 tonnes-per-year capacity Runcorn plant.
The facility, which opened in early 2014, was developed under consortium Viridor-Laing’s £3.8 billion PFI contract with Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority.
While the plant primarily processes RDF from the Greater Manchester area, around 20,000 tonnes of RDF from Wrexham county borough council was also processed at the plant under an interim agreement with Viridor and GMWDA until May 2015 (see letsrecycle.com story).
At present, the majority of non-recyclable waste in Merseyside is sent to FCC Environment’s Arpley landfill site in Warrington.
Diversion
Welcoming the contract, Viridor’s regional managing director Richard Jenkins said the arrangement would result in more waste in the North West region being diverted from landfill.
He said: “Viridor is delighted to be working in partnership with the Merseyside Recycling and Waste Authority to deliver a locally-led waste solution that brings both economic and environmental benefits to Merseyside. This new partnership will result in more waste being diverted from landfill, sending RDF to Runcorn ERF, which provides renewable electricity and heat to the adjacent INEOS Chlor site.”
Alex Murray, director of operations for the MRWA, added: “We are pleased to have established a waste solution which provides greater environmental benefits to the local community such as landfill diversion and that offers a reduced cost to the residents of Merseyside.”
Wilton EfW
The interim contract is due to run while MRWA awaits the start of its long-term resource recovery contract with Suez, valued at £1 billion. The deal, which was signed in 2013 will see almost all of Merseyside and Halton’s household waste diverted from landfill and sent to Suez’s Wilton energy from waste facility in Teesside.
Construction of the plant began in January 2015, with the programme scheduled to be completed in August next year. MRWA will deliver waste to a Rail Transfer Loading Station at Knowsley before it is sent via rail to the site in the North East.
Work on the RTLS is also progressing and is expected to finish the commissioning process in May 2016.
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