Sterecycle points to opportunity left by PFI gap

The withdrawal of PFI funding from seven projects could present an opportunity for affected councils to develop alternative or untested waste treatment technologies, according to autoclave specialist Sterecycle.

Speaking to letsrecycle.com, chief executive Tom Shields said that Defra's decision to axe the PFI support could lead to local authorities looking at alternatives to energy-from-waste incineration – a technology which had been prominent under the PFI regime.

In the wake of the funding cut, which took place in October's Spending Review, many of the affected councils have vowed to continue with plans to develop long-term waste treatment solutions (see letsrecycle.com story).

And, Sterecycle claims it is well situated to work with councils – particularly in South London and Essex – having received planning permission to develop an £85 million integrated waste treatment facility at a site in Harlow at the end of October (see letsrecycle.com story).

Mr Shields said: “The announcement of the PFI withdrawal is ironically quite good for us, as we are in Harlow, which isn't North London but is very close, and we have a site with planning permission in South London as well.

“It is a really compelling solution which doesn't require very long contracts and we are very happy to all at short arrangements, which makes it very much easier for councils and we don't have the planning problems that incineration does.”

Mr Shields comments come shortly after Jeff Cooper, president of the International Solid Waste Association, said that the withdrawal of PFI funding could lead to a series of smaller waste treatment options being developed (see letsrecycle.com story).

Future

Outlining Sterecycle's future developments, Mr Shields said the firm was close to announcing financial close on a contract with an undisclosed energy contractor as part of its plans to develop combined heat and power capacity at its Rotherham site.

The company is seeking to develop an anaerobic digestion facility alongside a combined heat and power unit to generate energy from waste. This is coupled with the long-term plan of supplying biogas to the grid and also recovering two to three Megawatts of energy to run their plant (see letsrecycle.com story).

Elsewhere, Mr Shields also revealed that the firm was among the final four bidders for a major waste management contract with Glasgow city council, which has previously identified autoclave as its favoured waste treatment method (see letsrecycle.com story).

“Glasgow is very keen on it because they have to dense housing stock,” Mr Shields said. “There is no room to develop and they are achieving quite low recycling rates and that is the problem with incinerators in that we don't need to do any pre-sort of recycling and they can increase their recycling by using us.”