No tug of war over waste arising in Sheffield, claims BDR

1 February 2011 | By Philip Reynolds
A shortage of waste arising in Sheffield that has led to one EfW facility applying for permission to increase its catchments area is not expected to impact on the proposed construction of a second facility in the region, the team behind the project has said.

The Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham waste partnership (BDR) has dismissed claims that there is a lack of sufficient waste arising in the region for another residual waste treatment facility, after a 225,000 tonne EfW plant on Bernard Road operated by Sheffield Environmental Services (SES), a subsidiary of Veolia Environmental Services, was forced to apply for temporary planning permission to extend the catchments area for its waste.

SES’ planning application for the extension of the Bernard Road site said: “The operating shortfall has had to be increasingly made up from Commercial and Industrial (C&I) waste arising, predominantly within the administrative area of Sheffield.

“However, this has proven difficult to achieve particularly given the volumes accessible to Veolia given the competitive nature of the market and in view of the limitations placed upon the operation of the ERF [energy recovery facility] through the planning permission insufficient waste will be available to meet the ERF’s operational requirements.”

Although preferred bidder status for the BDR project has not yet been announced, Sita Lend Lease’s proposal covers the construction of a 240,000 tonne EfW facility on Bolton Road, Manvers – an estimated 18km away from Veolia’s Bernard Road facility.

A spokesperson for the BDR Waste Partnership said: “Even if planning permission is granted for Sheffield’s Bernard Road incinerator to increase its intake of waste, the spare 50,000 tonne capacity would still not be able to deal with all the future waste generated by Rotherham, Barnsley and Doncaster, which cannot continue to be sent to landfill.

“It should be noted that the planning application relates to an increased intake of waste from nine local authority areas, and is therefore much wider that the BDR Waste PFI Partnership’s areas.”

Veolia Environmental Services Sheffield director Nigel Williams said: “We want to be very transparent with the planning application and make sure everyone is fully aware of the proposals. The Energy Recovery Facility currently receives some waste from neighbouring areas and the proposed change is aimed at maintaining the facility to capacity so that in turn, heat and electricity generation is optimised.”

BDR clearly do not care about waste as they are intent on wasting money to build a new incinerator close to an under achieving neighbour in Sheffield.