CWAC to award new waste contract

Cheshire West & Chester Council is next week expected to endorse an officer recommendation to appoint FCC Environment (UK) as preferred bidder for the contract to manage non-recyclable waste for the next eight years.

The new contract would see waste that cannot be recycled used to generate electricity rather than being disposed of in landfill. FCC Environment is competing with Viridor for the contract. An earlier plan fell through when PFI credits were removed during the 2010 comprehensive spending review by government.

Under the proposals, which will start in April 2014, all residual waste would continue to be sent to the current landfill sites for the first part of the year, whilst a new local delivery point is constructed in Ellesmere Port.

Cheshire West's non-recyclable waste would then be sent to a modern energy-from-waste facility, already under construction in Ferrybridge, and used to generate energy.

Members of the Council's Executive will be asked to formally endorse the recommendation when they meet on Wednesday 6 November.

Cheshire West currently recycles 59% of its waste.

Cllr Lynn Riley, executive member for localities, said: "Cheshire West and Chester Council has continued to invest in waste reduction, reuse and recycling – seeing the amount of non-recyclable waste it sends to landfill steadily decrease from 95,500 tonnes in 2009/10 to 67,200 tonnes in 2012/13.

"Sending waste to landfill generates significant greenhouse gas and diverting our waste to create energy will see a massive carbon emission reduction equivalent to around 13,600 tonnes of CO2 per year compared to current arrangements.

"Under the new contract we as an authority only pay for the waste we deliver, we would not have to provide a minimum annual tonnage. This continues to incentivise us all to continue to reduce, reuse and recycle waste."

The new enclosed delivery point at Ellesmere Port will handle all the authority's non-recyclable waste – shredding it to produce a refuse-derived fuel once metals will be removed for recycling.

This will then be transported to the energy-from-waste plant. By using spare capacity in an energy-from-waste facility already under construction, the authority will not require further new facilities to be built locally.