SITA named as preferred bidder for Northumberland PFI

The two organisations will now begin negotiating the fine details of the contract, with a view to SITA signing the contract by November for an April 2007 start.

” Northumberland already has a first-class reputation for recycling with our figure this year being over 29%. However, it is necessary to do even better. “
– Cllr Alan Cutter, Northumberland county council
The decision to appoint SITA as preferred bidder saves a procurement process that almost came off the rails after all other bidders withdrew their bids for the contract (see letsrecycle.com story).

Northumberland county council has had to prove to Defra that the bid from SITA – the council's incumbent contractor – was the best available option for dealing with the county's long term waste.

With only one bidder for the contract, Northumberland county council was forced to compare the SITA proposals with similar proposals for waste management contracts in other counties.

Paul Jones, waste manager at the council, told letsrecycle.com: “We have undertaken additional modelling of fall back options and taken costings for these. We have also talked with SITA on an open book basis to ensure that key elements of their proposals are competitive. We believe that SITA is the best viable option for us.”

Investment
The contract is expected to involve around 80 million worth of capital investment in new waste management facilities. Defra is providing 34 million in PFI credits to support the contract.

The new contractor will be set a target of recycling 45% of the household waste produced in the county, and 92% of waste is to be diverted from landfill.

Several new facilities are to be built through the 28-year contract, as well as an upgrade of the existing energy from waste plant at Tees Valley. SITA has proposed adding a third line to the plant which currently processes about 250,000 tonnes of waste each year.

Other proposals for the contract include a new sorting plant to separate the recyclable waste collected by the county's districts and significant improvements to the county's network of household waste recovery centres.

New facilities are to be up and running by 2009, the council explained.

Cllr Alan Cutter, executive member for the environment, said: “Northumberland already has a first-class reputation for recycling with our figure this year being over 29%. However, it is necessary to do even better and to change the way we all think about waste so that it is viewed as a resource not a problem to be buried.”