Surrey agrees changes to PFI waste contract

The changes will mean SITA invests in more recycling facilities rather than recovery plants to divert material from landfill.

Ultimately, under the amended contract, SITA’s subsidiary Surrey Waste Management is to establish recycling infrastructure such that a 60% recycling rate could be achieved. The contract is due to end in 2024.

Originally, the 25-year contract signed in 1999 had required the building of facilities capable of recycling 30% of Surrey’s household waste. Remaining waste was to be dealt with by incineration, but SITA has had great difficulty securing planning permission for proposed incinerators.

With the new 60% recycling requirement, SITA will still need to build incinerators in Surrey, but will be able to propose smaller projects than those previously suggested.

Threat
SITA’s Private Finance Initiative contract with Surrey county council was one of the first PFI contracts signed in the waste field. Last year saw Defra threatening to withdraw the 85.5 million in PFI credits if the county did not speed up development of residual waste treatment plants (see letsrecycle.com story).

Under the amended arrangements, Surrey county council will fund the new recycling facilities, which could include in-vessel composting plants and as many as 10 new household waste recycling centres.

Changes to the contract also included an updated timetable. The agreement to change the contract mark a landmark in waste PFI deals, which have been criticised for being inflexible to unexpected developments.

Announcing the changes, David Munro, the county council’s executive member for the environment, said: “It is important that we prepare ourselves for the necessary shift in focus on the way we manage our waste in Surrey.

“The change to our waste contract put us in a position to take forward improvements in waste management,” he added.

Incinerators
SITA is now hoping to build one incinerator at Capel, where a planning proposal for a bigger plant was previously rejected. A second recovery plant has not been attached to a particular site, but four possible locations are being discussed.

It is likely that the two incinerators will now deal with around 300,000 tonnes per annum in total, although the council has been keen to point out that the exact tonnages are not yet decided.

Surrey launched a waste review earlier this year, but its new plans have already come under fire with local district councils in Surrey already pledging to fight any plans for new incinerators in their areas (see letsrecycle.com story).