Peterborough City Council has announced that waste management company Viridor will be recommended as preferred bidder to build and manage a new energy from waste (EfW) plant in the city.
Bids for the plant, that is set to be completed by 2015, have been made from various companies and of the final two bidders, Kier and Viridor, the latter will be recommended as preferred by the Waste 2020 Project Board.
Councillor Matthew Lee, Deputy Leader of the Peterborough City Council, will make the final decision, to be announced on Friday (10 August).
“This contract heralds a whole new, and very exciting, approach to the way in which we manage our waste”, Lee said. “We have been very fortunate to have two excellent proposals from the two final bidders.”
The decision by Peterborough to invest £76 million in the EfW project was made in light of forecasted increases in waste volume as well as increases in the cost of sending waste to landfill.
Peterborough currently produces approximately 90,000 tonnes of waste per year – set to increase to 140,000 tonnes by 2040- and while 45 per cent of the waste is recycled, the remaining 50,000 tonnes is sent to landfill.
According to Viridor, installing an EfW plant in Peterborough will reduce waste sent to landfill by more than 93 per cent and produce 53,000 megawatt hours of electricity, which can be used locally or sold to the National Grid.
The plant is currently planned for construction near the Peterborough Power Station in the industrial area of Fengate.
There will be a three-day ‘calling in’ period for the final decision to be challenged, following Councillor Lee’s announcement on Friday.
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