The announcement came today as the company revealed a Japanese consortium of the Itochu Corporation and Takuma Co. has been chosen as preferred bidder to build the 100 million plant, which will recover up to 400,000 tonnes of waste a year from 2008.
Already home to a materials recycling facility, Colnbrook site is considered to be well placed to take waste from London and Surrey and is also close to the M4 and the M25 motorway, where current widening work will make access to the incinerator easier.
 Colnbrook's preferred bidder Takuma is the company behind this 600,000 tonne EFW plant near Tokyo |
Richard Skehens, managing director of Grundon, said: “The plant will take waste from Slough borough council, as it is the host council. But we have also made arrangements with other councils to take waste from them as well. These councils are predominantly near by but there are some which are further afield.”
It had been thought that the West London Waste Authority – which handles waste from the London boroughs of Brent, Ealing, Harrow, Hillingdon, Hounslow and Richmond – might use the Colnbrook incinerator. But, following intervention from the London Mayor concerning the Authority's waste strategy (see letsrecycle.com story), this possibility looks to be on hold.
Mike Nichols, general manager for the company, said: “Before the mayor stepped in we were looking to tender for the disposal of about 100,000 to 150,000 tonnes of waste and it is possible that Grundon would have tendered to take it.
“As we have had to put together a waste strategy before going ahead with a tender process, it is impossible to say whether or not our waste would have gone to Grundon,” he added. The Authority currently sends its residual waste to landfill.
Itochu/Takuma
Grundon has set up a subsidiary called Lakeside Energy from Waste to develop its energy from waste incinerator at Colnbrook. Mr Skehens, who is also managing director of Lakeside, said that the plant's construction should begin in August this year, with a predicted start for operations of early 2008.
The preferred bidders for the plant are some of the largest energy-from-waste specialists in Japan, where energy-from-waste is well-used because of the shortage of land space. Tokyo-based Itochu is a major general trading company with interests in industrial technology, while Takuma is one of the country's leading manufacturers of boilers and EfW plant technology.
” What attracted us to Itochu/Takoma in the first place was their consistently proactive attitude towards partnership working “
– Richard Skehens, Grundon
To date Takuma has built 346 incineration plants in Japan, Taiwan, China and the USA, including the Tokyo Shinkoto plant, which recovers 600,000 tonnes of waste each year using three lines.
Mr Skehens said: “What attracted us to Itochu/Takoma in the first place was their consistently proactive attitude towards partnership working.”
“Not only do their equipment and process represent the best available technology, but the company has demonstrated a very positive approach throughout the negotiations towards working with us to enhance project performance,” he added.
The Colnbrook facility will use moving grate technology, and is designed to meet the standards of the PPC permit issued in November 2003, as well as all current UK and EC legislation, Grundon said.
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