The new contract will be managed under an agreement between City of Ryde, Hunters Hill, Ku-ring-gai, Lane Cove and Willoughby Councils and waste provider Veolia Environmental Services.
Hunters Hill Mayor, Richard Quinn, said:
“This new contract represents a win-win for the community and the environment. It will deliver substantial annual savings over the course of the ten-year contract, the community will receive better value for every tonne of material recycled, and by removing duplication, costs are cut.”
Ryde’s Mayor, Bill Pickering, said:
“The joint agreement demonstrated the power of Councils working together for the benefit of the region and sets a benchmark for other Councils to follow in terms of cooperation and innovative outcomes.”
The new waste contract will be phased in over the region from December 2015 and will deliver a raft of benefits, including:
- Annual savings up to $2 million through efficiencies
- Better value for every tonne of material recycled
- Reduced procurement costs of each Council
- Cuts to ‘red tape’ through a single point of management between the group of Councils and the company
- Securing the Councils’ NSW EPA 2022 target of 70% of total municipal waste diverted from landfill
- Driving investment in new technology that converts ‘red bin’ and clean up waste into a compost-like substance used in mine site rehabilitation and refuse-derived fuel products used in cement manufacturing
- Facilitating construction of two new waste processing facilities by Veolia securing waste resource recovery for up to 15 years.
Willoughby Mayor, Gail Giles-Gidney, said the contract was the result of a rigorous strategic planning and tender process.
“Our main objective was to achieve better waste outcomes for the region, through expanded waste processing, better value for money and cost effective waste disposal services for the 360,000 residents our Councils represent.”
Lane Cove Mayor, David Brooks-Horn said the new contract looks to the future and “is a real leap forward in environmental management of ‘red bin’ and clean up waste – the waste streams that pose the greatest challenge to recycling and recovery of resources. These new technologies look to a sustainable future with over 80% recovery from Council collected waste when fully operational.”
Ku-ring-gai Mayor, Jennifer Anderson, said the contract was a far-reaching initiative for the environment and future generations.
“These new technologies will ensure that the five Councils will deliver on their NSW EPA 2022 target of 70% waste diversion from landfill.“
Mark Taylor for Veolia said the $200 million contract signalled Council’s confidence in Veolia’s capability to deliver cost effective new waste management technology solutions.
“Veolia has approvals in place for immediate investment in Mechanical Biological Treatment (MBT) with the construction of new waste facilities already underway at Woodlawn in southern NSW and are finalising approvals for a Dry Waste Recycling Facility in Camellia, Sydney. The new MBT plant will deliver over 80% resource recovery from household waste through production of compost from the organic fraction and a Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) from the residual inorganic fraction. The Camellia Recycling Facility will deliver similar diversion from landfill from Council ‘Clean Up’ wastes through separation of recyclable commodities and production of RDF.”
The contract will see 33,000 tonnes of NSROC ‘red bin’ waste through MBT each year from mid-2017 and around 9,000 tonnes per annum of ‘Clean Up’ waste through Camellia from 2018.
When fully operational both facilities will deliver over 80% resource recovery from waste, in years 3 (MSW) and 4 (Clean up) of the contract term.
At a time when it is being suggested that Councils cannot work together, NSROC estimates that the contract will deliver in the order of $2 million dollars per annum in savings on current market prices for the comparable services, once the contract is fully operational and providing both disposal and processing services, for the five communities involved.
The development of the regional waste project was partially funded through the NSW EPA Waste Less, Recycle More initiative which is funded from the waste levy.