The county council is currently in the process of tendering a long-term waste treatment deal to cover the total 210,000 tonnes of residual waste that it generates each year, after its plans to build its own EfW plant at King’s Lynn were scrapped in 2014.
It is anticipated that the council will have a new contract in place by the autumn, with potential bidders having met in February to express interest in tendering for the deal (see letsrecycle.com story).
Residual waste from Norfolk is also sent to FCC’s EfW plant at Allington and its landfill site at Aldeby, or exported as refuse derived fuel (RDF) to Rotterdam.
Norfolk has already been sending residual waste to the Great Blakenham facility, which is operated by Suez Environnement (formerly Sita UK), since 2014, after the collapse of its waste treatment contract with Cory-Wheelabrator.
Speaking on Friday, councillor Toby Coke, chairman of Norfolk council’s Environment, Development and Transport Committee, said: “I am pleased that we have extended our agreement with Suffolk as it is vital that we have secure arrangements in place to deal with Norfolk’s residual waste. I am confident that this Autumn we will have pinned down services for dealing with the remaining 170,000 tonnes each year for the next four years.
“But we still need a sustainable long term solution that is acceptable to our communities in Norfolk. That is one of our most pressing tasks because with the benefits of the economic growth forecast for our county and with more new homes being built here, it is inevitable that we will be dealing with more waste in our county in the future.”
Contract
Under its 25-year residual waste treatment contract with Suez, worth up to £1 billion, Suffolk council is required to pay for the treatment of up to 170,000 tonnes of waste per year at the plant.
Suez is responsible for filling any additional capacity remaining on top of that set aside for the council with much of that likely to come from commercial sources.
Suffolk county council’s cabinet member for Environment and Public Protection, councillor Matthew Hicks, said: “This is an extension of current arrangements which benefit both local authorities, saving each county in the region of £1million between 2014 and 2016. The extension of this agreement will not increase the volume of waste moved into Suffolk and the number of trucks transporting waste from Norfolk will not change. There are currently eight movements each day, moving around 40,000 tonnes of residual waste from Norfolk.
“This is a good deal for taxpayers in both counties with both councils benefitting from economies of scale, because sending more waste to the Great Blakenham plant reduces the treatment cost per tonne.”
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