Procurement
The county council invited the waste industry to put forward ideas for an alternative to landfill by advertising in the Official Journal of the European Union in 2009. We did not specify the technology, but asked private companies to suggest what they felt would meet the county's needs. The county council did suggest a site: part of Javelin Park near Junction 12 of M5 identified in the Waste Local Plan as a suitable site for strategic waste management. However, companies could also submit their own if desired.
Through an competitive procurement process, using an evaluation framework that was influenced by public consultation and approved by cabinet, we now have a shortlist of two companies bidding to design, develop and operate a new waste facility in Gloucestershire: Complete Circle and Urbaser. Both companies (or bidders) are proposing energy from waste facilities on Javelin Park.
What's the cost?
Designing, developing and operating an alternative to landfill is expensive — at the start of this project we estimated between £456 million and £605 million over 25 years. Yet, even if we ignore our environmental responsibility to find a more sustainable option it is still more cost effective to find an alternative to landfill than carry on as we are.