The North Wales Residual Waste Treatment Project (NWRWTP or The Waste Partnership) brings together five councils across North Wales – Isle of Anglesey; Gwynedd; Conwy; Denbighshire; and Flintshire – in a pioneering project to manage waste in North Wales more efficiently.
Landfill is no-longer a sustainable option for dealing with the residual waste that we all throw away – the waste that is left over after recycling and composting as much as possible.
The country is running out of landfill sites and the Welsh Assembly Government has set challenging targets to significantly reduce the amount of rubbish that is sent to landfill in future.
In response to this, The Waste Partnership has begun a process that will look at alternatives for managing non- recyclable waste. The Waste Partnership has drawn together and are currently considering an Outline Business Case (OBC) to assess the best options available and act as a basis to talk to the Welsh Assembly Government about potential funding towards new waste treatment facilities in North Wales.
As part of putting together the Outline Business Case, The Waste Partnership is required to set out an approach for managing waste, including technology and a site where this could be achieved. This is not set in stone however, and is only the start of the process. Later this year, waste management companies will be invited to tender and propose solutions for managing The Waste Partnership’s residual waste.
The site (or sites) and technology (or technologies) selected by the successful company will be subject to normal planning and permitting processes. The site used to illustrate the business case to the Welsh Assembly Government is in Deeside Industrial Estate in Flintshire. The Waste Partnership will therefore be speaking to local communities around the site to explain the next steps and keep them informed during the process.
Residents will be reassured that no decision has been made to locate any residual waste treatment facility on the Deeside Industrial Estate. It is the start of an eighteen month process and potential bidders who may build and manage the facilities could propose other sites in North Wales.
Alongside this process, the Waste Partnership will be talking to local residents from across North Wales to make sure the views of members of the public are included in the decision making process.
A random telephone survey is being carried out to gauge opinions on waste issues, and a series of consultation events and roadshows will also be carried out.
The technology used to illustrate the business case for managing North Wales’ residual waste is called Energy-from- Waste (EfW). EfW is a process whereby non-recyclable waste is incinerated to produce heat and power. This heat and power can then used by nearby commercial operations to power their sites or sold to the National Grid as green energy, reducing the need for fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas.
If the Welsh Assembly Government approves the OBC, the Waste Partnership will then be asking bidders to tender to manage and build the residual waste treatment facilities. As part of this there will be a formal process of consultation, which is likely to take place in the summer of 2010.
Flintshire County Council Chief Executive and lead Chief Executive for the project, Colin Everett, said, “We recognise that municipal waste management is changing and our role is more than ‘collecting’ and ‘disposing’ of waste.
“What we do with our waste is a really big issue for us as space in landfill sites is very limited.
“This is an important project to develop the necessary waste facilities which will benefit everyone in North Wales. Whichever way you look at it, the environmental benefits and costs of this project far outweigh continuing to manage waste as we do now as the treatment facilities will help save the partnership more than £5.5m a year.”
The Waste Partnership will be involving members of the public in the consultation process to help identify priorities and methods of assessing tenders.
Website: www.nwrwtp.org.uk
