Glasgow considers alternatives to autoclave

Glasgow city council could be set to move away from advocating large-scale autoclave facilities to deal with its residual household waste after today (January 7) stressing that the procurement process for its long-term waste management contract was technology neutral.

The Scottish local authority had previously outlined ambitious plans to invest 135 million in the development of three large-scale autoclaves across the city as part of plans to massively overhaul the way in which it handles it municipal residual waste (see letsrecycle.com story).

However, in today naming waste management firm Viridor and consortium 3SE – which is comprised of Scottish and Southern Energy and Shanks – as front-runners for its waste contract, the city council said it was willing to assess other waste treatment options.

A spokesman for the council told letsrecycle.com that Glasgow wished to “remain flexible” with the contract and would work with a successful contractor to assess a viable waste treatment technology and applicable contract length. Although, the spokesman did say the contract was “likely to be 25 years with an option to extend”.

“We had a desire at one point whether through government funding or our own means to build between one and three autoclaves in the city and we had a business case put together before the recession hit and we have now gone out to the market in a procurement exercise to look at our options,” he said.

The spokesman also said that the council had held an industry open day in order to gauge market interest in the contract. This had seen “around 90 to 100 people” attend a dedicated event from across the waste management, engineering and infrastructure sectors.

Procurement

Viridor and 3SE will now be charged with issuing detailed submissions for proposals to treat an anticipated 150,000 tonnes-a-year of municipal waste, with a preferred bidder set to be named in spring 2010.

Commenting on the procurement, executive member for land and environmental services, Councillor Jim Coleman, said: “I’m delighted to be making progress in securing the right technology and best solution for Glasgow’s waste. We have always been clear that the status quo is not an option – we need to protect the city, financially, and ensure Glasgow complies with Scotland’s Zero Waste Plan.”

Each bid was assessed against five main criteria – technical evaluation, financial evaluation, price, legal evaluation and community benefit. The announcement of the two-bidder shortlist means the bidders in the previous round, Biffa and Glasgow Renewables, are now no longer part of the procurement process.

Overhaul

The large-scale waste management plans are also intended to help overhaul Glasgow’s current recycling and composting performance. According to the most recent figures published by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Glasgow achieved a 22.3% municipal recycling and composting performance – placing it as the third lowest performer in the country.

And, the local authority undertook a review of its collection service in conjunction with the research arm of Glasgow Caledonian University in July 2009 as a means of assessing how the city council could improve its recycling rate (see letsrecycle.com story).