Waste management company Wheelabrator Technologies Inc (Wheelabrator) has been chosen as Preferred Bidder for the North Wales Residual Waste Treatment Project (NWRWTP).

The decision was announced on Friday (11 April) after all five local government authorities in the waste partnership (Gwynedd, the Isle of Anglesey, Conwy, Denbighshire and Flintshire County Councils) agreed to select Wheelabrator as the company most preferred to provide the solution to managing non-recyclable waste in North Wales.

Project background

The Welsh Government’s statutory targets require local authorities to recycle 70 per cent of household waste, and to landfill no more than five per cent of the residual waste, by 2025.

To achieve these targets, the NWRWTP launched to ‘find a solution for up to 150,000 tonnes of waste that is projected to remain after the residents of North Wales have recycled and composted as much as they can’.

It represents an investment of between £600-800 million over the lifetime of the project, which is estimated to be around 25 years.

According to the partnership, the procurement process was ‘highly competitive’, however, Wheelabrator had been the only remaining bidder for the waste contract after SITA UK pulled out of the procurement process claiming that because of the current economic climate, the project ‘ranks lower…than other opportunities’.

The partnership said that following a ‘rigorous, challenging and detailed negotiation and scrutiny process’ with Wheelabrator, they were ‘fully satisfied that the company’s proposal has environmental benefits and offers a value for money solution for years to come’.

Wheelabrator’s plans include building an incinerator on the Deeside Industrial Estate in Flintshire and using a combination of road and rail to transport the waste to the site.

Incineration fears

The local authorities have said that they had ‘confidence’ in the safety and performance of the ‘proven technology that Wheelabrator will be using’, however, the long-term incineration plan has caused concern with some local councillors and residents who believe that emissions from the incinerator could cause health problems.

Deputy Council Leader Bernie Attridge for Connah’s Quay, said: “I have significant concerns for the health and wellbeing of the residents of Deeside. I will continue to press for absolute assurances over the impact of emissions.”

Further fears centre on the growing overcapacity of incinerators in relation to falling residual waste figures.

Concerns of the UK and Europe’s preference for long-term incineration contracts have mounted recently as both Eunomia and the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives have released reports on overcapacity, the latter stating that the numbers of incinerators in the UK and EU have the capacity to burn ‘more than the non-recyclable waste generated’ and could ‘threaten’ recycling rates as recyclable material would be needed to ‘feed’ the plants.

‘Earning people’s trust by communicating openly’

However, Gary Aguinaga, Vice President, of UK Operations at Wheelabrator, said that the company will be ‘communicating openly’ with the public to ‘earn people’s trust’. He said: “We’re proud to have been chosen for this exciting project to help North Wales manage its waste effectively and efficiently. We’ve worked hard to demonstrate that we’re the right partner to be chosen and the selection process we’ve been through has been extremely rigorous.

“We know that concerns have been expressed about elements of this project and we now need to earn people’s trust by communicating openly, showing how this proven technology works and explaining how tightly regulated our operations will be. The health and well-being of the community, our staff and the natural environment will be our priorities from day one.”

The company will share more details on draft proposals in the upcoming months, but it said that construction and operation of the facility will provide new jobs and supply chain opportunities for local businesses.

It is expected that the partnership will finalise the details of the contract ‘during the summer’, when Wheelabrator will also begin consulting with local residents on the new facility, with the intention to submit a planning application ‘later in 2014’.

Find out more about the North Wales Residual Waste Treatment Project.