A PIONEERING project to manage waste more efficiently will bring together five councils in North Wales.
Conwy county will be joining forces with the Isle of Anglesey, Gwynedd, Denbighshire and Flintshire under The Waste Partnership to take part in the North Wales Residual Waste Treatment Project (NWRWTP) aimed at tackling the problem of landfills
Due to a shortage of landfill sites in Wales, the Welsh Assembly Government has set challenging targets to significantly reduce the amount of non-recyclable rubbish which is sent to landfill in future.
In response, The Waste Partnership has begun an 18 month process looking at alternatives for managing waste which cannot be recycled.
It is hoped once a suitable technological solution and a site has been identified, a new waste treatment facility will be established in North Wales.
Later this year, waste management companies will be invited to tender and propose solutions for managing residual waste.
One possible location being used to illustrate the business case to the Welsh Assembly Government is in Deeside Industrial Estate in Flintshire, but no formal decisions have been made on where the facility will be.
The final location could be anywhere in North Wales, and will be dependent on the successful bidder.
The Waste Partnership will be talking to residents across North Wales to make sure the views of members of the public are included in the decision making process through telephone surveys and roadshows.
One technology being suggested for managing North Wales' residual waste is Energy-from-Waste (EfW) - a process where non-recyclable waste is incinerated to produce heat and power.
If the Welsh Assembly Government approves the final proposals, the Waste Partnership will then be asking bidders to tender to manage and build the residual waste treatment facilities.
As part of this there will be a formal process of consultation, which is likely to take place in the summer of 2010.
Flintshire County Council Chief Executive and lead Chief Executive for the project, Colin Everett, said “We recognise that municipal waste management is changing and our role is more than ‘collecting’ and ‘disposing’ of waste.
“Whichever way you look at it, the environmental benefits and costs of this project far outweigh continuing to manage waste as we do now as the treatment facilities will help save the partnership more than £5.5m a year.”
Cllr Mike Priestley, Conwy’s Cabinet Member for Environment added: “Working with the other authorities to find one solution for the region is the sensible way forward, we’ll be able to achieve far more as a partnership than we would as a single authority.”