Senior waste officials have sounded a note of caution over a government report suggesting that bigger waste plants are needed in order to save money.
The report for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs concluded that an optimum-sized energy-from-waste facility in terms of cost effectiveness would handle 400,000t a year, and a mechanical biological treatment plant 200,000t.
The savings were potentially huge – £352M would be shaved off the cost of treating 400,000t waste in an energy-from-waste facility of this scale compared with four smaller ones, and £178M would be saved by building a 200,000t MBT plant compared with four 50,000t facilities.
But most local authorities had insufficient waste individually for facilities of this size, bolstering the case for joint procurement of treatment plants, consultant AEA Technology concluded.
Paul Borrett, chair of the National Association of Waste Disposal Officers, said that while achieving economies of scale was a good aspiration, ‘the Government has made the principal aim achieving the landfill allowance trading scheme targets’. ‘If an authority is facing with fines in 2013, it isn’t going to decide to embark on a longer, more drawn-out procurement process in order to increase cost effectiveness’.
The consultant recommended that to succeed, partnerships would need to be placed on a sound legal footing. While this might well overcome the floundering of joint procurement attempts where partnerships were founded on a looser basis, it would ‘be a complex process, ’ added Borrett. The report acknowledged the political difficulties of delivering larger waste plants. It found ‘a considerable number of barriers to collaboration and integration were identified’. Authorities were not entering into partnerships because they often ‘have differing objectives to their neighbours, and perceive loss of service control’.
Register now for full access
Register just once to get unrestricted, real-time coverage of the issues and challenges facing UK transport and highways engineers.
Full website content includes the latest news, exclusive commentary from leading industry figures and detailed topical analysis of the highways, transportation, environment and place-shaping sectors.
Use the link below to register your details for full, free access.
Already a registered? Login
