The authority represents the boroughs of Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Hackney, Haringey, Islington and Waltham Forest. At present, commingled recyclable material collected at the kerbside in the boroughs is bulked by the NLWA's collection contractor, LondonWaste. (It is not sorted by LondonWaste as originally stated by letsrecycle.com. After bulking, the recyclables are sorted at materials recycling facilities operated by Bywaters, Holmen and Veolia.
In advertising the interim sorting deals, which cover a total of 40,000 tonnes of material a year, the NLWA broke down the contract into seven separate lots of 5,000 to 10,000 tonnes of material a year in a bid to spread the risk of awarding one large contract.
According to minutes of an Authority meeting held on June 24, the NLWA has opted to award two deals – one for three lots and another for four – with a formal announcement of the successful companies expected next week.
It is believed that Irish-owned waste management firm Greenstar UK and East London waste and recycling company Bywaters are in pole position to be awarded the contracts.
Bywaters currently operates a £7 million, 250,000 tonnes-a-year capacity MRF at Bromley-by-Bow in East London, while it is unclear whether Greenstar would look to transport waste to its 300,000 tonnes-a-year capacity Aldridge MRF near Birmingham or facilities closer to North London.
Greenstar is currently developing its second ‘Super-MRF' in the North London area having acquired a site adjoining the Edmonton incinerator in August last year for the development of a proposed 250,000 tonnes-a-year plant (see letsrecycle.com story).
Tenders
In explaining the necessity of the merchant contract, the NLWA said: “The Authority identified that in order to gain long term security and best value for the commingled recyclables collected by the boroughs it would be beneficial to procure these [processing] services directly with the MRF operators.”
The NLWA received 13 expressions of interest after advertising the contract in the Official Journal of the European Union in November 2008 and has since scrutinised the bidders on the basis of the most “economically advantageous tender”.
Tenders ‘A' and ‘B' in the document are said to have exhibited cost savings and offered a wide range of materials accepted for recycling, including Tetrapaks, mixed plastics and shopping bags, and the NLWA claim that the contracts also offer the option of processing material collected source separated.
The award of the contract is also designed to help North London cater for waste arisings while major infrastructure is developed under the Authority's long-term waste management plan, for which it is currently seeking £200-300 million in PFI-funding (see letsrecycle.com story).
Under its long-term plans, the NLWA intends to develop £3 billion worth of infrastructure including two new MRFs, two mechanical biological treatment (MBT) facilities, a combined heat and power plant and both composting and anaerobic digestion plants.
LondonWaste
Also in London and in a separate development, LondonWaste, which is half owned by the NLWA, last week (June 23) submitted a planning application to Enfield council for the development of a state-of-the-art recycling building in the borough.
The new recycling building, which is set to act as a transfer station and a MRF, is to allow LondonWaste to store and sort a further 100,000 tonnes of recycled material each year, which could include paper, magazines, card, plastic bottles, cans and glass. The 43-acre site is also set to include an education and visitor's centre.
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