€730 million to treat Cornish waste

, SUEZ Environment’s local waste management company, has been selected by

as preferred bidder for a 30-year integrated waste management contract.

Subject to final negotiations, SITA UK will manage the 300,000 tonnes of household waste generated annually by the county’s 550,000 inhabitants.

The contract will require SITA to modernize and invest in the county’s current sites and develop existing material recycling facilities (MRF), new transfer stations, composting facilities and an energy from- waste plant (EfW) for the treatment of non-recyclable residual waste. The EfW plant will divert nearly 250,000 tonnes of waste away from landfill sites and will provide electricity for the local and national grid.

The contract is a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) in response to European legislation that requires local authorities in the UK to increase the amount of waste diverted from landfill sites.

Within the PFI framework, the diversion rate from landfill in Cornwall, England’s most south- westerly county, will increase from 25 per cent to around 90 per cent when all the proposed facilities are fully operational.