A tender is being offered for a £20 million food waste treatment contract to process about 
The county council is leading the procurement process on behalf of the Oxfordshire Waste Partnership, which also includes the five collection authorities of Oxford city, Cherwell district, West Oxfordshire district, Vale of White Horse district and South Oxfordshire district councils.
The food waste treatment contract will take the form of a Design, Build, Finance and Operate agreement, with the council paying a gate fee for the successful company to take in collected food waste.
However, seeking as many options as possible, the county has said it would remain open to other financing structures for the contract.
No technology preference has been stated publicly by the county council for the new contract, but in November 2006, county councillors expressed unanimous support for in-vessel composting.
Councillor Roger Belson, county council cabinet member for sustainable development, said: “I am very pleased that we are making progress with this scheme, which is essential to keep costs low for Oxfordshire taxpayers by diverting as much waste as possible from landfill.”
Food waste collections
The facility will allow the districts to set up collections of organic material, boosting the present recycling/composting rate of 40% to 50%.
The beginning of the procurement process will be especially welcomed by Oxford city council which has come under fire from some of its residents after rolling out alternate weekly waste collections. The fortnightly arrangements have been alleged to cause smells
and attract vermin.
City councillors want to address the complaints by introducing a weekly food waste collection mixed in with garden waste and the new facility will allow this to happen.
Cherwell District Council is also said to have indicated that food waste could be mixed in with the existing green waste collection scheme, while the other district councils are more interested in collecting food waste separate from garden waste.
The food waste procurement contract is running alongside a tendering process for a residual waste treatment facility, which is expected to be operational by 2013. A shortlist for this contract, which will last an expected 25 years, was announced in August (see lestrecycle.com story).
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