From the Irish Times, 11 February 2010

WASTE CONTRACTS worth tens of millions of Euro are to be offered to private landfill operators by the four Dublin local authorities when the last Dublin regional landfill closes at the end of this year.

Almost all residual household waste collected in Dublin will be in the hands of private waste companies following the closure of the landfill at Arthurstown, near Kill, Co Kildare, next December.

The landfill, which accepts 600,000 tonnes of municipal waste per annum was due to close in 2007. An Bord Pleanála granted an extension of the facility until December 21st, 2010, but no further deposits of household waste will be permitted after this date.

It was initially envisaged there would be a short time lag between the closure of Arthurstown and the opening of the Poolbeg incinerator, and that during this period waste would be sent to the planned landfill at Nevitt, near Lusk, a Fingal local authority area.

However, while the Lusk facility was granted planning permission last year following protracted Bord Pleanála hearings on the case held on three occasions over two years, it still has not been granted an operating licence from the Environmental Protection Agency. The Poolbeg incinerator will not be operational until 2013 at the earliest. and the region’s local authorities have no other facilities to deal with household waste under their control.

They are now in a position where they will have run out of landfill space at the end of the year, and apart from small amounts of capacity in neighbouring county council landfill facilities, they will have to seek tenders from the private sector to deal with waste.

Dublin City Council has in the last week advertised for interested parties to enter into talks on the processing of up to 350,000 tonnes of waste annually.

While contracts have not yet been put out to tender, a source close to the council has said they are likely to be worth tens of millions of euro for the three years until the Poolbeg incinerator is scheduled to open. More here.

SARDINIA SYMPOSIUM NEWSLETTER –
11 ^th AUGUST 2009

The Twelfth edition of the Sardinia Symposium, SARDINIA 2009 will include two general sessions and six specialized and workshop sessions for a total of eight parallel tracks.

During the meeting several interesting case studies and major controversial subjects will be discussed, representing an excellent opportunity for exchange of knowledge and experiences.

The final programme is available in the web site www.sardiniasymposium.it

Visit the web site www.sardiniasymposium.it for full details on how best to enjoy the Sardinia Symposium and register. Don’t forget to contact the IWWG secretariat to register in the IWWG training courses.

The Waster recommends the Sardinia Symposium as the top global waste management event. Sadly, the Waster himself, who did have the abstract of his paper this year approved for presentation, will not be able to attend this time, due to lack of funds due to recessionary belt tightening measures, otherwise he would be there like a shot! (by the way! – If anyone has a spare ticket, I can use, because they are unable to attend at the last minute for any reason please do email me!)

The contract, which is for five years with a potential extension of up to a further four years, will cover four local authorities: Bristol city council (as lead authority), Bath & North East Somerset council, North Somerset council and South Gloucestershire council. Five bids were invited for the work, but only three received.

The aim of the contract is to ensure that there is sufficient treatment capacity to divert waste from landfill to meet the Authorities’ annual LATS allowances over the period 2011/12 to 2015/16. The award forms phase two of a four phase joint waste management strategy approved by the Partnership in June.

Phase one of the Partnership’s work was source segregation contracts for organic wastes. There is still the possibility that the authorities might opt for incineration as a third stage although there is some uncertainty about this. In the recent local authority elections, the Liberal Democrats won Bristol and they campaigned on the back of not having an incinerator in the region.
MBT solution

Now, New Earth Solutions will be bringing a mechanical biological treatment solution to the West of England with construction of a plant in the Avonmouth area. The plant is to be 200,000 tonnes in size and will be New Earth’s largest development to date. This allows for 80,000 tonnes of merchant capacity.

Of the 120,000 tonnes fed in to the plant, more than 50% will be reduced through losses in mass. Non-ferrous, ferrous and high grade plastics will be recovered, totalling about 15% of the input and about 15% will be used as a compost like output for land. The balance will be used for a biomass refuse derived fuel which could be used in complementary plant near the MBT facility.

Value of the contract has not yet been disclosed but is thought to be about £50 million and the plant is due to be operational in April 2011.

Councillor Carl Francis-Pester, chair of the Partnership’s joint waste management committee, said: “New Earth Solutions will provide the councils with a cleaner, cheaper and more sustainable way to dispose of residual household waste.”

Chris Cox, managing director of New Earth Solutions, told letsrecycle.com: “We are delighted to have been chosen by the West of England Partnership.”
Related links

* New Earth Solutions
* West of England Partnership

Cost of the contract is based on the principle that any contract procured by the Partnership will be operated on a partnership basis with costs shared and allocated on an equitable basis. According to the Partnership, the New Earth Solutions project requires each authority to identify and then commit, on an annual basis, the delivery of a specified volume of waste to the treatment facility.

The Partnership said: “Each authority will have a minimum tonnage assigned to it for each of the initial five years of the contract, in order that the partnership can fulfil its overall minimum tonnage obligations to the contractor. Each authority will commit to pay its share of the contract costs, the pooled haulage costs and the project management and administrative costs in respect of its guaranteed minimum tonnage for the duration of the initial five years of the contract, irrespective of whether it delivers the agreed tonnage or a lower tonnage.

More at LetsRecycle..

Monday November 17 2008

Ireland country is heading for a major landfill crisis.

Within the next two years, almost a third of Ireland’s 35 landfills will be overflowing with rubbish.

According to figures from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 11 of the 35 landfill sites around the country are likely to be full by 2011.

Another four will be under severe pressure by 2014, creating a massive headache for the relevant local authorities.

Since 2006, Waterford County Council has been forced to take rubbish from its landfill site to another facility in Co Carlow.

By the end of next year, Mayo County Council will have to consider a similar plan when its Derinumera landfill is expected to run out of capacity.

Two of Dublin’s major dumps are also expected to reach capacity by 2010.

Among the sites facing closure are Arthurstown landfill in south county Dublin, Ballealy landfill in Fingal, Dunmore landfill in Kilkenny and Donohill landfill in south Tipperary.

Pressure

Overall, the EPA estimates that three million tonnes of waste is being thrown into landfills every year. This means that within a decade all the country’s existing dumps are likely to have reached capacity.

Only around 25 million tonnes of total landfill capacity remain nationwide.

When planned super dumps at Drehed in Kildare and Bottlehill in Cork begin operation, they are likely to begin filling fast.

Plus, the EPA expects Irish people to be generating growing amounts of waste.

Despite the new focus on recycling, the EPA projects that the amount of waste generated by each person will rise from 0.84 tonnes in 2006 to 1.15 tonnes person by 2020.

The environmental body has described the increase as “phenomenal”.

Another factor in the waste management crisis is the EU landfill directive, which will come into effect in 2010.

Under its terms, the Government will have to reduce the amount of biodegradable municipal waste that is disposed of in landfill.

Upward

Ireland is directed to reduce its disposal rates by 50pc. But it is also expected that biodegradable municipal waste, like waste from households and commercial activities, will rise by 4pc per year for the next decade, doubling by 2025 with the EPA.

In 2005, a total of 3.05 million tonnes of municipal waste was generated in Ireland, an increase of 65pc since 1995, and the EPA says that while the rate of increase is slowing, the direction is still upward.

The European Environment Agency has reported that Ireland ranks as the largest per capita generator of municipal waste in the EU. More …

EU environment ministers have officially approved a new framework for waste management across their 27 member countries, including a five-step hierarchy for waste treatment which classes “energy-efficient waste incineration a recovery operation”. The directive also sets new recycling targets.

By 2020, EU member states must recycle 50% of their household and similar waste and 70% of their construction and demolition waste, says the new directive.

It also contributes to legal simplification by repealing the current waste framework directive, the directive on hazardous waste, and part of the directive on waste oils. The Council of the European Union says it also “modernises” waste legislation by:

* introducing an environmental objective
* clarifying the notions of recovery, disposal, end of waste status and by-product
* defining the conditions for mixing hazardous waste
* and specifying a procedure for the establishment of technical minimum standards for certain waste management operations.

The directive “introduces a new approach to waste management that encourages the prevention of waste,” states the Council, with safe landfill disposal listed as “a last resort” in the hierarchy, which all governments and local authorities must apply when developing waste policies.

“By promoting the use of waste as a secondary resource, the new directive is intended to reduce the landfill of waste as well as potent greenhouse gases arising from such landfill sites,” the Council states.

The directive’s approval comes after several years of tough negotiations, with a proposal to overhaul the EU’s waste policy originally tabled in 2005.

To reach agreement the Parliament had to drop any reference to binding waste prevention targets to be applied at a national level. EU countries will instead have to adopt waste prevention programs five years after this directive comes into force.

In adopting the directive the Council accepted all amendments voted by the European Parliament in the second reading in June. Member states are “required to transpose the directive into national law within two years”. More…