Norfolk county council is today (December 6) expected to award six interim contracts for residual waste management ahead of a proposed energy-from-waste facility becoming operational in the region in 2015.
The fact that waste contractors are proposing to send waste as far away as Kent, and the rapidly escalating costs of disposal over the next five years, underline the importance of our own facility here in Norfolk
Cllr Derrick Murphy, Norfolk county council
The local authority's cabinet is recommended to award five contracts to Waste Recycling Group and one to Cambridgeshire-based Donarbon – which has now been purchased by AmeyCespa – to cater for 226,384 tonnes of residual waste arising annually over the next four years.
The short-term agreements, which will run from 2011 to 2015, cover a mixture of treatment methods, such as landfill disposal, mechanical biological treatment and energy-from-waste generation. The contracts also have the potential to be extended to 2016.
The six contracts are intended to fill a capacity gap, which Norfolk intends to plug in the long-term with the development of a large-scale energy-from-waste facility at the Willows Business Park. A consortium led by Cory Environmental emerged as the council's favourite to develop the 260,000 tonnes-a-year capacity project in October 2010 (see letsrecycle.com story).
At present, a landfill disposal contract with WRG at Adelby is set to run to 2014, while a services arrangement with Norfolk Environmental Waste Services (NEWS) is due to expire in 2013.
However, 10 of the county's existing waste contracts are set to expire on March 31 2011, necessitating interim measures until the energy-from-waste plant becomes operational.
The recommendation to award WRG and Donarbon the contracts comes in the wake of a competitive tender process, which began in August 2010. According to the council agenda for today's meeting, other companies to have bid for interim deals include Biffa, NEWS, Pearsons, Viridor and NEWS with hazardous waste specialist Remondis.
Interim
Donarbon intends to treat an undefined amount of waste at its £42 million MBT plant at Waterbeach in Cambridgeshire. And, WRG will send waste to its Blackborough End landfill site, as well as landfill via its Rackheath, Shipdham and Thetford waste transfer stations.
This would be as well as diverting waste to its Allington energy-from-waste plant in Kent via its Costessey waste transfer station.
Commenting on the interim arrangements, Derrick Murphy, leader of the council and chairman of the cabinet, said: “These contracts have the potential to ensure that Norfolk stays within its legal landfill allowances, avoiding penalties that we can ill afford.
“However, the fact that waste contractors are proposing to send waste as far away as Kent, and the rapidly escalating costs of disposal over the next five years, underline the importance of our own facility here in Norfolk.”
According to the cabinet papers, the projected cost of waste treatment in Norfolk in 2011 is £18.436 million, however, this is expected to rise to £23.726 million by 2015. The advent of the energy-from-waste facility as a disposal route is hoped to remove over £8 million from the council's annual waste bill.
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