Councils set to draw up shortlist for rubbish-dump alternatives

Councils in Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham have been working together for some time to find an alternative to dumping household waste in landfill sites.

They have already earmarked a site at Bolton Road in Manvers, Rotherham, for the project and have been in discussion with four specialist companies.

Each has offered a waste disposal solution using different technologies and two of those potential schemes will be discounted, leaving a shortlist of two.

Details of the two remaining options will be revealed when the decision has been taken, though not all information will be made public until the final decision on the preferred option has been made towards the end of the year.

The BDR organisation said that was for contractual reasons, because the bidding process was commercially sensitive, and a spokeswoman promised full details of the proposed option would be made public when the preferred system had been chosen.

"There will be lots of information about what it will mean for the local environment and the benefits it will bring," she said.

Whatever technology is chosen, it will mean getting rid of waste by methods other than burying or dumping it.

The spokeswoman stressed that technology had moved on from the "incinerator" systems used by some councils previously and the bidders were offering equipment "as green and clean as anything used in Europe".

The BDR organisation insists the authorities have to find an alternative to the current landfill arrangements, partly because available sites are reaching full capacity, partly because the waste gives off damaging greenhouse gasses as it decomposes and partly because dumping waste will attract environmental fines in future, making it too expensive to continue.

The Government has already offered more than 77m to support the scheme through the Private Finance Initiative.

The proposed site in Manvers is brownfield land but is also regarded as a good site because it is close to the boundaries of all three authorities involved in the scheme.

However, no final decision on whether that site will be used can be taken until after the successful waste disposal system has been chosen, although the spokeswoman said: "There is no absolute certainty, but it is a strong likelihood."

The project had been delayed because Doncaster Council had requested extra time to examine the financial implications of the project. However, that authority has now agreed to move forwards with the scheme.

Chairman of the BDR Project Board, Coun Richard Russell, said he was delighted work on the next stage could begin.

He said: "Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham have a long history of working together, and this project is key to us achieving our aim of reducing the amount we send to landfill.

"All local authorities must do this – if we don't, we face very heavy fines. At the moment, most of this leftover waste goes to landfill, but landfill sites across the country are almost full, and they produce harmful greenhouses gases which damage the environment.

"We want a solution which will be environmentally friendly. It will also create up to 300 jobs during the construction phase, with up to 80 permanent jobs after that, many of which will be filled by local people.

"However, nothing will go ahead until there has been a full planning application. This means local people will be able to look at the detailed proposals and comment on them."