Local companies seeking to bid for new long–term waste contracts, claim they could save Northern Ireland’s ratepayers £20m a year.  The 25–year contracts are being set up to ensure NI’s councils hit EU targets on recycling and avoid huge fines.

But a dozen waste companies, which are not involved in the tender process, have claimed they could do the same work for less, providing a saving of £500m over the full term of the contract, they said.

A Stormont committee is to investigate whether the contracts will offer value for money.

Most black bin waste ends up in landfill, which totals approximately 660,000 tonnes per year.  EU targets and penalties mean a new approach is needed.

The proposed contracts will mean councils signing up to send guaranteed tonnages to new waste treatment facilities. Councils will pay an agreed price whether or not they fill their quotas.  The amount to be charged has not yet been decided, but independent operators claim it could be more than £125 a tonne. They claim they could do the job for £95 a tonne.

The contracts will be Private Finance Initiative–based. The successful bidders will pay for new waste facilities, which will include a new £200m incinerator and other waste treatment works which will take rubbish from 11 councils.  The contracts are 25 years long to allow them to recoup their capital costs and make a profit.

Simon Hamilton, Deputy Chair of the Environment Committee, has suggested that by trying to find a solution to the waste problem there is a risk of creating a long–term financial problem.

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