The procurement of residual waste treatment facilities for Oxfordshire

Written by Cllrs Chris Wise & Janet Godden on Thu 14th Feb 2008

Despite Oxfordshire's excellent recycling and composting rates, the amount of non-recyclable residual waste generated in future looks set to exceed the county's landfill allowance, resulting in severe financial penalties. A method of treating non-recyclable residual waste is therefore required, and was the subject of a fierce debate at the County Council on 8 January.

In September 2006 the Council started to look at options on a technology neutral basis. The solutions proposed by the eight companies short listed after a pre-qualifying process are realistic and technically feasible and would all result in landfill targets being met. In terms of technology, however, they all propose 'energy from waste' (EfW), in other words the incineration of waste under controlled conditions to produce heat. The heat produced is normally used to produce electricity and can also be used to produce steam or hot water for industrial or domestic use ('combined heat and power'). The amount of electricity produced depends on the size of the plant.

Councillors were assured that EfW is a proven technology and the main form of treatment used in Europe. In this country treatment plants need the permission of the Environment Agency which has strict rules for the safety of such facilities. Plans for the site and the facilities will require planning permission in the usual way. No sites have yet been proposed.

The short listed companies will now be invited to submit detailed solutions. These will be priced and evaluated and a preferred bidder will be selected. It is expected that the contract will be awarded in spring 2009. The new facilities will not be operational until 2012 at the earliest.

The debate was controversial and councillors were not given an opportunity to vote on any aspect of the matter, which has been decided by the County Council's leading Conservative group. Many members felt that it was particularly unfortunate that all the outline solutions were for incineration and that alternative solutions have now been ruled out. Concern was also expressed at the fact that the contract would need a duration of 25 years in order to be an attractive investment opportunity for bidders. It was argued that far better solutions for the disposal of non-recyclable waste were likely to be available within 10 years, and that a break clause after 12 or 15 years would avoid the risk of Oxfordshire becoming locked into obsolete technology.