MWDA announces preferred PFI sites

28 September 2010

Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority (MWDA) has announced its two preferred sites in the bid for a £90m waste Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contract to facilitate its Resource and Recovery Waste Contract on behalf of the Merseyside and Halton Waste Partnership.

Carl Beer, director of MWDA said: "As the Authority responsible for the sustainable management of the region's household waste we have spent the last four years systematically exploring a very wide range of alternatives, as part of the procurement of a new PFI Waste Resource and Recovery Contract, both in terms of technology and location.

"This process is now entering its final stages and we can confirm that… elected members approved the two options presented by the two final bidders in the process.

"These include plans from Covanta at the Ince Marshes site in Cheshire, and a proposal from SITA for the Wilton International site in Teesside. Each bidder is proposing an Energy from Waste facility for the production of energy in the form of electricity and/or heat from household waste.

"Our priority throughout has been to find a practical solution for Merseyside and Halton taxpayers which could provide the best possible value for money and satisfy a strict set of environmental criteria. The facilities that are being proposed are to generate resources from that waste which is not re-used or recycled."

The preferred bidder will be announced later in 2011 and the new contract operational by early 2015.