26 MARCH 2008 - COVANTA ENERGY-FROM-WASTE PROPOSAL MOVES AHEAD

Cheshire County Council today announced the shortlist of companies whose proposals have been evaluated most favourably for the Waste Treatment Services PFI contract.

Covanta Managing Director Malcolm Chilton said: “Naturally we are disappointed to find we are not among the companies selected by the County to continue with the tendering process.

“However, we are confident that our proposals are excellent, providing best value for money and reducing dependence on landfill. We intend to continue working on the environmental and traffic studies, and to submit a planning application later this year, as originally envisaged.”

Covanta is proposing to build an Energy-from-Waste plant on the Midpoint 18 Business Park in Middlewich which would handle all the County’s household waste that cannot be recycled or composted.

As well as household waste, the plant would take a proportion of non-recyclable waste from local shops, offices and businesses.

Covanta recently held a series of public exhibitions in Middlewich Community Church to allow local residents an opportunity to discuss its plans, attended by almost 300 visitors.

In light of the consultations, Covanta has revised down the size of the proposed facility from 450,000 tonnes to 390,000 tonnes per year. The plant would generate about 32MW of electricity from the waste, while discounted electricity would be offered to 20,000 nearby homes. The company is also investigating the feasibility of providing heat and power to local businesses.

The Cheshire Replacement Waste Local Plan, adopted last July (2007), acknowledges the importance of energy recovery from waste:

“A key objective of the Plan is to facilitate the maximum recovery of waste materials and to reduce the quantity of waste which is subsequently sent for disposal at landfill. The Plan also seeks to recover energy wherever possible.

Energy recovery technologies generate heat and this heat may be used to generate electricity. The electricity can be exported to the national grid and the heat can be used by the local industry or housing.”

ENDS

Background
Government and EU legislation requires a 65% reduction in the amount of UK biodegradable household waste sent to landfill by 2020 from the 1995 levels.

Failure to dramatically reduce our dependence on landfill will result in heavy financial penalties, totalling millions of pounds, which could lead to an increase in council taxes.

Thermal treatment of waste is supported by the UK Government legislation, Regional Waste Strategy for the North West (RWS) and the Cheshire Waste Local Plan.

Editor’s notes

• Covanta Energy is an international Energy from Waste provider with over 20 years of experience in the industry.
• Covanta Energy entered the UK market in 2005, with an office at Kingswinford, and is building a team to manage the UK operations.
• Covanta’s Energy-from-Waste system is the most affordable and practical solution for treating residual waste. By investing in larger plants, Covanta is able to maximise economies of scale and pass these savings on to the local authority.
• Covanta’s system enables local authorities to significantly reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill and guarantee they meet their landfill diversion targets.
• Covanta undertakes all design, construction and project management elements when developing new sites; reducing the risk and additional cost of using turnkey contractors.
• Malcolm Chilton is Managing Director of Covanta Energy Ltd. Malcolm joined Covanta in November 2005. Previously he was founder of Energy Power Resources Ltd (EPR). Prior to EPR, Malcolm was a director of AEP Ltd, now part of Veolia. For much of the 1990s Malcolm was chairman of the Energy from Waste Association, an industry association set up to lobby government on issues affecting the EfW industry.

Further information
For more information, please contact Alex Doyle or Deborah Ward at Pendragon Consultants on 0161 288 2888.