Devon County Council and Viridor Waste Management have announced they have reached an agreement to deliver the new energy from waste facility to deal with household rubbish from the Exeter and East Devon area. The new plant will deal with around a fifth of the county's residual waste after recycling and composting has taken place.
Devon County Council and Viridor Waste Management Ltd are pleased to announce that they have signed a Modification Order to their existing waste disposal contract which will enable the County Council to divert 60,000 tonnes of waste from landfill. This will be achieved by the construction of an Energy from Waste plant by the French company TIRU under contract to Viridor, to be built on the site of the former Exeter Incinerator on the Marsh Barton Trading Estate in Exeter.
Viridor sought and obtained planning consent and a permit for this facility. It is anticipated that this plant will come on stream in the summer of 2014. For the first 5 years of its operation the plant will be operated by TIRU under contract arrangement with Viridor. Thereafter, Viridor will operate the plant.
This is a significant step by Devon to operate within the landfill allowance targets set by the Government, whilst at the same time recovering value from society’s waste and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
The plant is expected to cost £45M to construct and will provide employment for local people.
TIRU (a French company established in 1922 specifically to deal with municipal waste) has operated more than 30 thermal processing plants in the last few years on the continent and continue to operate 20 of these facilities. It has satisfactorily operated one of their oscillating kiln plants near Grimsby for six years, which was also built by the company. TIRU won the contract to build and initially operate the Exeter plant following an OJ notice of the tender opportunity. The market for the smaller community sized energy from waste plants is limited and four companies expressed an interest in bidding for this project.
The oscillating kiln which is at the heart of this type of plant ensures very thorough combustion of the waste. The emissions from this tightly-controlled process are low compared even to the stringent Waste Incineration Directive standards, and interested parties will be able to log in on the internet to see exactly how the plant is performing relative to the standards set by Europe.
Some 3 MW of electricity will be generated per hour and exported to the National Grid and the plant is designed to export heat should a district heating network be established on the Marsh Barton estate.
Councillor Roger Croad, the Cabinet Member for Environment and Community said: “I am delighted we are going ahead with this facility, which will deal with the remainder of the waste after recycling and composting has taken place. It will complement our existing services and eliminate the risk of being fined for non-compliance with the Landfill Directive. This is robust, safe and clean technology with an established trackrecord, which should give many years of reliable service.”
Mike Hellings, Managing Director of Viridor Waste Management Ltd commented that: “Viridor is pleased to be able to help Devon to re-establish a thermal treatment plant on the site of the former incinerator in Exeter, which will ensure the council can comply with the requirements of the Landfill Directive. Devon County Council are a longstanding and important client so Viridor are very pleased to further cement the partnership.”
Ian Crummack on behalf of TIRU said: “We have worked extremely hard with Viridor to bring this project to fruition and look forward to the day when the plant starts generating energy from the waste collected in the Exeter area.”
The achievement of the Exeter Energy from Waste Plant is the second step Devon has taken to deal with residual waste (that left over after reduce, reuse, recycling and composting activities have taken place) and achieve the diversion of biodegradable wastes from landfill. The first step was working in partnership with Torbay and Plymouth City Councils on the South West Devon area disposal contract which was won by MVV. That project brings with it a requirement to design, build and operate a new transfer station in the Teignbridge District Council area to enable that waste to be bulked up for transport to the proposed MVV energy from waste plant to be built in Devonport, Plymouth. An OJ Notice will shortly be published to offer a tender opportunity for the design and build and the transport element of that transfer operation.
The European Commissioner in charge of the Landfill Directive, Jose Diaz del Castillo has confirmed the intention to propose a phasing out of biodegradable waste going to landfill by the early 2020’s. The County Council will therefore need to re-examine the waste disposal technologies to be introduced in Torridge, North Devon and Mid Devon to comply with this requirement and that of the Government’s Waste Policy Review. That will present a further tender opportunity in due course.
Devon has achieved one of the highest recycling and composting rates in the country (55%) which is another important means of diverting waste materials from landfill. The County’s network of 19 permanent Recycling Centres handle 40% of the recycling and composting undertaken in Devon. The other 60% is achieved via District Council recycling services. During the current financial year, the Recycling Centre Contracts are to be retendered with the successful contractor taking over the delivery of this service from the 1 April 2012.
Working with the public, the District Councils and private sector contractors, Devon County Council is well placed to meet the obligations set by the European Community and the Government as far as waste management is concerned.
Exeter's new energy from waste facility will be the first in the county to come online. A new plant is also proposed at Plymouth by MVV UMwelt. This could deal with waste from South Devon, Plymouth and Torbay; it is currently going through the planning and permitting process.
