Milton Keynes Announces Residual Waste Contract Short-List
8 September 2011
Four leading names in the waste industry are to battle it out to design, build and operate a residual waste treatment solution in Milton Keynes
Milton Keynes Council has announced a "short-list" of companies which are in the running for a contract to deal with the authority's residual, or "black sack" waste, for an operational period of between 10 and 15 years.
The contract, which involves treating around 80,000 tonnes of residual waste per year, was first advertised in the Official Journal of the European Union in June 2011. It is expected that the new facilities will divert waste by some additional recycling and then those wastes that cannot be re-used or recycled will be diverted away from environmentally damaging and increasingly expensive landfill sites by generating renewable energy.
Milton Keynes Council is offering a site in its ownership at Dickens Road, Old Wolverton on which to build the new facilities. It is only seeking solutions which comply with its no mass burn incineration policy, treating waste as a valuable resource and driving it up the waste hierarchy. The authority is also expected to provide funding from its own sources and wishes to explore various approaches to maximise resource recovery, energy and value from available technologies.
Bids were invited from "single entity" companies, consortia, and joint ventures. The four short-listed bidders are:
Amey Cespa
FCC working with WRG
New Earth REMONDIS Consortium
Viridor
Andy Hudson, the council's Head of Environment and Waste, commented: "We are extremely pleased with the response from the industry and believe that the four bidders selected represent a strong field which will bring both UK and Europe-wide experience in developing an excellent solution for Milton Keynes."
The companies will now be invited to develop detailed solutions as the next stage of the competitive dialogue process that is being employed.
From these four bidders, two or three will be selected to develop solutions for final submission in the summer of 2012. It is anticipated that the preferred bidder will then be selected in September 2012.
Darrel Moore
