Information on Loughborough

£130 million waste disposal scheme discussed

Posted on 02/04/2008
J. Milton

landfill siteA £130 million scheme to reduce waste and avoid multi-million pound penalties will take a step forward this month.

Leicestershire County Council is set to submit a business case to the Government, to develop a waste treatment facility by 2015.

Nick Rushton, the Cabinet’s spokesman on waste, said: “We cannot afford to do nothing – if we continue to put thousands of tonnes of waste into landfill sites, we will run out of space and have to pay millions of pounds in penalties.

“We want to find the best process to treat waste and reduce the amount that is landfilled. No process is being specified at this stage, to allow potential bidders to come up with a range of proposals.

"Although no site has been identified, the County Council is finalising its thinking on giving broad guidance where such facilities could go."

At the moment, 230,000 tonnes of Leicestershire’s household waste is dumped at landfill sites each year. Each tonne of waste incurs landfill tax from the Government and this bill could increase by £1.8 million per year if landfilling continues at the current rate.

The County Council is working to minimise waste and to boost recycling and composting to 58 per cent – but this will still leave some waste that will have to be treated or landfilled.

The Council is now proposing to start the long process that could lead to the development of a waste treatment facility or facilities, for up to 180,000 tonnes of waste per year.

It hopes that up to half the £130 million cost will be funded by the Government. The County Council intends to “go to the market” in September, to see which waste treatment companies are interested.

The Council’s Cabinet will discuss reports on these matters at 2.30pm on April 8

Further Information:

  • The Councils Cabinet will be deciding to submit an "outline business case" to Defra, as part of the process to secure Government funding.
  • The Council will then invite interest from companies in September, before inviting formal bids, shortlisting them and selecting a preferred bidder, around spring 2010.
  • Once a contract is awarded, the design and planning application stages will follow.
  • The Council has identified one site in its ownership which could be suitable – the existing Whetstone waste site – but it has not taken any final decision regarding sites or choice of technology, so waste companies can propose their own options and locations.
  • The Council is also finalising its waste development framework – which sets out broadly where waste facilities could go – for submission to the Government.