Biffas long-delayed mechanical biological treatment (MBT) plant at Brockhurst Wood is expected to be fully operational within the next few months more than a year later than originally expected according to West Sussex council.
Operations at the large-scale MBT facility near Warnham had previously been set to start last summer, but the opening of the plant was then pushed back to March 2014, with West Sussex county council blaming poor weather and problems with programming of the site (see letsrecycle.com story).
And, a county council spokeswoman has now confirmed that opening of the facility has since been delayed further, telling letsrecycle.com that it is now in the final stages of commissioning after acceptance testing started at the facility on July 21.
The council spokeswoman said: It is anticipated that the facility will be fully operational within the next few months.
Biffa West Sussex Ltds MBT facility, which will have the capacity to process 327,000 tonnes of residual waste per year, has been developed under a 25-year waste treatment contract agreed with West Sussex council in 2010. The deal was thought to be worth 1 billion (see letsrecycle.com story).
‘The MBT Facility is currently within the final stages of commissioning and acceptance testing started last Monday (21 July). It is anticipated that the facility will be fully operational within the next few months.’
West Sussex county council spokeswoman
The development is situated next to Biffas existing Brookhurst Wood landfill site near Horsham, which is projected to run out of capacity by 2015/16 (see letsrecycle.com story).
RDF procurement
The county council has also been planning to award an energy-from-waste (EfW) contract for the treatment of refuse derived fuel (RDF) produced at Biffas MBT plant, but this procurement has also faced several delays, although an announcement is now expected in September.
The procurement, which has been narrowed down to five bidders including Biffa, was delayed in July 2013 after Ernst & Young was forced to pull out of the process as financial advisor due to a conflict of interests. The assurance specialist was replaced by Grant Thornton and the RDF contract was expected to be awarded in May 2014.
However, the council spokeswoman said that a decision had now been delayed until September due to a consultation with cabinet members on the impact of financial pressures on waste services.
The spokeswoman told letsrecycle.com: Due to the complex nature of the waste contractual arrangements and associated financial contractual models, this process has taken longer than we expected. We anticipate that this consultation is likely to conclude by mid-September and the Cabinet Member [responsible for waste] is then expected to take a decision.
Grundon
Biffas Brookhurst Wood MBT plant is one of several waste management sites in the area. Viridor processes West Sussex household recycling at its materials recycling facility (MRF) at nearby Ford, while Grundon Waste Management recently gained planning approval for a 200,000 tonnes per year EfW plant to treat commercial and industrial material, also at Ford (see letsrecycle.com story).
When asked by letsrecycle.com whether Grundon was bidding for the West Sussex RDF contract, a spokesman for the company said: “We are not in a position to disclose details of any current tender processes.”
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