The council has been warned by the Welsh Assembly the Private Finance Initiative credits pledged back in 1997 to support Wrexham's new long-term waste contract will not be available indefinitely.
” The elimination of the incineration aspects of the original planning application means that we can move the project forward to safeguard the vital funding already earmarked. “
– Cllr Aled Roberts
In response, the council has bowed to local pressure and dropped plans for an energy-from-waste recovery plant – opposition to which was causing major delay for Wrexham's PFI procurement process.
A meeting of the full council on Monday approved an alternative plan for the 25-year contract. The plan will still see some form of mechanical biological treatment plant developed to turn residual waste into a refuse-derived fuel. But, instead of being used in at a recovery facility in Wrexham, the RDF will now be exported out of the local area.
The leader of Wrexham county borough council, Cllr Aled Roberts, said: “The elimination of the incineration aspects of the original planning application means that we can move the project forward to safeguard the vital funding already earmarked from the Welsh Assembly Government.”
Recycling
By not building the recovery plant, the plan effectively frees up land that can now be used to store and bale more recyclable materials – allowing Wrexham to expand its kerbside recycling scheme to 95% of the borough by 2009.
Two household recycling centres at Bryn Lane and Brymbo will be expanded under the new proposal, while a brand new site will be built in the south west of Wrexham.
Details of the contract, including commercially-sensitive elements, are now to be finalised behind closed doors at a meeting of the council executive next week. The contract's preferred bidder is a partnership between Waste Recycling Group and Portuguese-owned waste firm HLC.
The council has said that the start date of the contract is currently uncertain because of the time taken completing the negotiation process.
“Realistic”
The plans for an energy-from-waste plant had already been converted from straight incineration into a proposal involving pyrolysis and gasification. In a report to councillors, Wrexham's strategic director, Phil Walton said there still local objections to the proposal and that dropping the plant entirely “represents the only realistic option” for finalising the contract quickly.
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Mr Walton said the consortium must now secure a market for the RDF, to ensure that the council can meet its landfill diversion targets set by the Welsh Assembly.
He explained: “The income generated by the RDF will probably be minimal or even negative in the first few years of the contract, but may become a valuable source of income in future years, subject to legislation.”
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