A meeting of the council's waste project board decided unanimously today to remove WRG's preferred bidder status for the contract – and re-start negotiations with reserve bidders Sustainable Resource Management (SRM) Ltd.
” We have had to take this action because we cannot afford to wait indefinitely.“
– Cllr Ian Monson, Norfolk county council
The decision came because county councillors were concerned that WRG will not be able to develop its proposed incinerator in time to meet landfill diversion targets from 2010.
Difficulties
On the surface, the county council highlighted WRG's difficulties in getting hold of enough land to develop the incinerator proposal.
But staunch local opposition to WRG's proposed incinerator cannot have helped the company's cause, and the county has told reserve bidders SRM that fresh talks “may lead to them becoming our preferred bidder”.
Rather than an incinerator, SRM is proposing to use mechanical biological treatment to process 150,000 tonnes of mixed waste each year.
Announcing the decision today, Norfolk's cabinet membet for environment and waste, Cllr Ian Monson said: “We have had to take this action because we cannot afford to wait indefinitely. We still aim to meet our target of having a residual waste treatment facility in Norfolk up and running by 2010.
“We have looked very closely at the situation and strongly believe that this is the right decision to take. It is important that we do everything we can to use this opportunity to our advantage so that our negotiations in the coming months put us in the best possible position,” Cllr Monson added.
SRM
SRM Ltd is a wholly-owned subsidiary of county council-owned waste firm Norfolk Environmental Waste Services (NEWS). It is proposing to build a mechanical biological treatment (MBT) and anaerobic digestion plant at Longwater Industrial Estate in Costessey to tackle 150,000 tonnes of the county's non-recyclable household waste each year.
Mike Jackson, director of planning and transportation at Norfolk county council, said: “The Sustainable Resource Management Ltd bid was a strong bid, capable of meeting our requirements, and we look forward to exploring it in more detail with them. We have also asked WRG to keep us in touch with their progress.
“Delivering a project of this nature is always going to be a very complex and lengthy process. We have always made sure that we have also kept a robust bidder in reserve,” Mr Jackson explained.
MBT
The county council said SRM's proposed plant would recover more than 25% of materials from Norfolk's residual waste for recycling – but it will still generate some energy-from-waste from the biogases produced from the anaerobic digestion process.
The residues from its MBT plant could be burned as a fuel or used to improve and restore contaminated land or landfills, it added.
The county council has told the company that fresh discussions “may lead to them becoming our preferred bidder”.
The county explained: “The door remains open for WRG to settle the outstanding issues to our satisfaction but the main focus will be our negotiations with SRM. While this may lead to the selection of SRM as a preferred bidder, it may also lead to a requirement for both bidders to give us their best and final offers, which would take several months.”
Norfolk county council said it still hopes to have a residual waste treatment plant up and running by 2010, despite the delay. WRG was originally confirmed as preferred bidder for the contract back in December 2005 (see letsrecycle.com story).
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