County councillors agreed yesterday to put WRG in the drivers' seat for the 25-year contract, which will involve the recycling and incineration of about half the county's waste.
 An artist's impression of the Recycling & Energy Centre proposed by WRG for Norfolk |
A local bid from Norwich Environmental Waste Services – involving mechanical biological treatment rather than energy recovery – has been named as “reserve bidder”.
WRG's proposal involves building a 90 million “Recycling & Energy Centre” at an existing WRG site at the Longwater Industrial Estate, near Costessey on the outskirts of Norwich (see letsrecycle.com story).
The county council hopes the new centre will gain planning permission so that construction can begin in 2007, with operations starting in 2009.
MRF
The proposed centre would include a materials recycling facility to take out recyclable materials from waste before it enters the incineration process. Incinerators often recycle material left over once waste has been burned, but with the MRF processing material before incineration, material recycled will count towards Norfolk's recycling rates.
As well as diverting waste from landfill, the company said its proposal would generate enough energy to power the equivalent of 10,000 homes, cutting the need for about 45,000 tonnes of coal each year in electricity generation.
Chris Cox, WRG commercial director, said: “We are really looking forward to the challenge of helping Norfolk to reduce landfill and increase recycling and recovery. We can provide facilities which will be among the best in the country and will complement recycling at the same time as generating electricity.”
” We can provide facilities which will be among the best in the country.“
– Chris Cox, WRG
Awareness
“An important part of the new facilities will be a visitor centre, where we can raise awareness around waste resources and the environment,” Mr Cox added.
Norfolk currently recycles about 30% of its household waste, but the long-term WRG contract will mark the first phase of dealing with the waste that is not recycled on existing schemes.
WRG, owned by equity group Terra Firma, also revealed new plans to build an energy-from-waste plant in Hull earlier this month (see letsrecycle.com story).
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