Waste PFI

A major project to manage the future treatment of Rotherham’s leftover household waste has taken another step forward. Two leading waste treatment specialists have been shortlisted to develop proposals designed to drastically reduce the amount of rubbish Rotherham, Barnsley and Doncaster send to landfill.

 

Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham councils, working together as the BDR Waste Partnership, will now press ahead to the next stage of the procurement of waste treatment facilities. £77.4m of Private Finance Initiative (PFI) funding has been secured from central government’s Waste Infrastructure Development Programme to deliver the development.

 

Four waste specialist organisations had put forward different proposals to build and run the facility, using a range of different technologies. These have been carefully evaluated over a long period. The two shortlisted companies bidding for the contract are SITA UK Lend Lease, and 3SE, a consortium of Shanks Group plc and SSE (Scottish and Southern Energy plc). A site at Bolton Road, Manvers, has been earmarked, subject to planning permission. It is a brownfield site (it has previously been developed), is the right size, and is near the borders of all three councils.

 

Leftover household waste is the rubbish we put in our black bins. At the moment, the bulk of it goes to landfill. Local authorities across the country must reduce the amount of rubbish being sent to landfill or face significant fines which could impact on council tax bills. Landfill sites across the country are becoming full, and they produce harmful greenhouse gases which damage the environment.

 

 

The SITA Lend Lease consortium plans to build a high tech recycling and renewable energy plant on the Bolton Road site – the Dearne Valley Treatment and Energy Centre. It will recycle additional material such as metals and plastics from the leftover waste. What is left after this will be processed in an Energy from Waste facility to generate electricity to feed into the National Grid and heat which could be further recycled to warm nearby buildings.

 

3SE will utilise Mechanical Biological Treatment (MBT) technology at the Manvers site to process residents’ leftover waste. On delivery at the MBT facility the waste is shredded and placed into drying halls. As the waste breaks down it generates heat and this heat is used to dry and sanitise the waste making it easier to process. Once the drying is complete the waste is transferred to the processing line where a fuel is manufactured and materials, including metals, glass and stone, are recovered for recycling. The fuel from the MBT process will then be transported to SSE’s proposed multi-fuel plant at its Ferrybridge Power Station in West Yorkshire.

 

The planned Combined Heat and Power (CHP) facility will use the fuel from the MBT process and a range of other fuel sources to generate electricity and to provide heat to other industrial processes at the Ferrybridge site.

 

The two shortlisted bidders’ proposals will now be further developed by the partnership before just one is selected later this year as the preferred contractor to take the proposal forward to the pre-planning stage. The scheme will create up to 300 jobs during the construction phase, with up to 80 permanent jobs after that, many of which will be filled by local people.

 

The scheme will be subject to planning permission, and the most stringent safety measures. The new facilities will be designed to meet tough standards set by the World Health Organisation. The design and operating regime of the facility will be scrutinised by the Environment Agency before the required Environmental Permit is issued to the operator.