The company will handle around 54,000 tonnes of organic waste on behalf of the council at three of its sites in the South East of England over the length of the three-year deal.
16,000 tonnes of green waste will be treated at its open windrow composting site in Ongar, Essex, 17,000 tonnes of mixed food and green waste will be treated at its in-vessel composting (IVC) site in Tempsford, Bedfordshire and 10,000 tonnes of mixed food and green waste at another IVC site in Parham, Suffolk.
Mat Stewart, Tamar Energys head of feedstock and managing director of its composting business, Tamar Organics, said: This contract represents our first partnership with a local authority in England and its great to be working with Essex county council. This once again demonstrates that AD is a genuine waste management option for local authorities that can provide tangible financial and environmental benefits.
Essex
Waste will be received from the 13 collection authorities in Essex. The contract forms part of a suite of Framework Agreements which will allow the county council to treat its organic waste until the Essex long-term food waste treatment solution which is currently in procurement is in place. The Framework Agreements also provide for the treatment of green garden waste until 2017.
Councillor Roger Walters, cabinet member for waste & recycling at Essex county council, said: We are pleased to be working with Tamar Energy to ensure we keep our waste disposal costs in line with last year during a difficult economic climate of rising prices. This contract enables Essex county council to continue its successful waste management programme and we look forward to working with Tamar Energy.
Tamar plans to have a national network of up to 40 plants by 2018, which it estimates will generate 100MW of electricity enough to power more than 200,000 homes.
The company was established in February 2012 with around 97 million in financial backing from investors including The Duchy of Cornwall, The Rothschild family and Rothschild Investment Trust, Dubai-based investment company Fajr Capital and supermarket chain Sainsburys.
In November 2012 Tamar completed a deal to acquire the organics arm of Countrystyle Group Limited, which including the development rights for three proposed AD facilities, all with full planning permission plus the three composting facilities to be used to service the Essex deal (see letsrecycle.com story).
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