Learning centre plan at waste site

Andrew Robinson

PLANS for a large waste treatment centre in South Kirkby, near Pontefract, which is due to open early next year will include an education centre, according to a report.

VT Environmental Engineering (VT) has been appointed as the contractor for the project and a planning application for a waste facility at the former South Kirkby colliery was approved in 2008.

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The overall cost of the Private Finance Initiative project is expected to be 700m over its 25-year life.

A report to a Wakefield Council scrutiny committee, which meets on January 19, says that VT will deal with garden waste, dry recyclable waste and residual waste at the plant.

In addition, there will be an education centre where the waste treatment processes will be explained, while a series of educational projects will promote the recycling message.

The report says the South Kirkby site could be fully operational by early 2011 and would require around 110 staff.

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Managerial appointments for the scheme have already been made. Thirty staff would transfer from Wakefield Council to VT and the remaining posts will be advertised.

As part of the contract, Wakefield Council says that VT will:

n Refurbish the existing household waste site at Welbeck;

n Provide two modern household waste sites at Denby Dale Road, Wakefield, and at Glasshoughton;

n Provide temporary facilities at Denby Dale Road during construction of the household waste sites, while existing sites at Ferrybridge and Cinder Lane in Castleford would remain available until the Glasshoughton site opens.

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Options are also being looked at for a further composting site for when the Welbeck landfill site closes.

The actual collection of refuse from households and businesses will continue to be a council service.

It was originally proposed that garden and kitchen waste would be collected together in one bin, with dry recyclables in a second bin and residual waste in a third.

But, following the appointment of VT, the collection plans were changed and it was decided to exclude kitchen waste from the garden waste.

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“This was because the kitchen waste would assist VT’s residual waste stream process and it would be less confusing for the public, ” the report says

It adds that the project is expected to cost 700m for the 25-year contract.

The council says the contract price includes 64m of income to the local authority from the sale of recycled waste, plus the sale of surplus energy generated from the waste process.

Energy generated from the waste process will be used to power the site and the surplus will be sold to the National Grid.

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Because of the high level of cost and risk for the council, the management of the project is open to regular reviews by the Audit Commission and the authority’s own auditors.

The council says the waste management facility forms part of an overall strategy to reduce the amount of waste going into the ground.

“The aim is to reduce the percentage of waste being sent to landfill and increase the percentage of waste recycled,” the report says.

It adds: “Over a three-year period between 2006 and 2009 the amount of waste sent to landfill has reduced from 75.7 per cent to 69.36 per cent and the amount of waste recycled has increased from 24.3 per cent to 35.6 per cent.”

The target for 2009-10 is 36 per cent recycled and 67.2 per cent landfill, according to the committee report.