Intermodality client SITA UK has been selected as preferred bidder for the 30-year £1.18 billion resource recovery contract with Merseyside Recycling and Waste Authority (MWRA), and the 25-year £900 million West London Waste Authority (WLWA) 25-year residual waste contract. Both contracts will put rail freight at the heart of the new operation, generating 3 new daily train services between transfer stations and energy-from-waste facilities.

Merseyside Contract

SITA SEMBCORP UK, a consortium led by SITA UK, with Sembcorp Utilities UK and I-Environment, will manage over 430,000 tonnes of residual household waste each year from Merseyside and Halton. It includes the design, build, finance and operation of two key facilities which both have planning permission in place: a rail loading waste transfer station in Merseyside and a new purpose-built energy-from-waste facility in Teesside. Total capital investment for the two facilities will be around £250 million. Both key facilities are expected to be operational by 2016.

The rail loading waste transfer station will be developed at an existing rail-linked warehouse in Knowsley Industrial Estate. From here, waste will be transported by rail to the new 450,000 tonnes per year energy-from-waste facility, which will be developed on a rail linked site at Wilton International – a 2,000 acre industrial estate managed by Sembcorp Utilities UK near Redcar on Teesside. Two trains per day are expected to operate between the sites, creating a trans-Pennine intermodal rail service which may in time help stimulate other third-party intermodal traffic along the corridor.

West London contract

A consortium led by SITA UK, Lloyds Banking Group and ITOCHU Corporation, will manage up to 300,000 tonnes of residual household waste each year from the West London Boroughs of Brent, Ealing, Harrow, Hillingdon, Hounslow and Richmond-upon-Thames. The waste collected from over 1.4 million residents will be managed in a new energy-from-waste facility in Severnside, South Gloucestershire and transported by rail from West London. Compared to the current waste treatment this will save over 83,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions each year, which is more than two million tonnes over the duration of the contract.

SITA UK will take over the operation of two rail-linked waste transfer stations in West London. The new rail-linked energy-from-waste facility, which will be called the Severnside Energy Recovery Centre (SERC), already has planning permission. This facility will produce enough electricity to power the equivalent of approximately 50,000 homes and could also supply hot water to local businesses, further improving its environmental performance.

The total capital investment in the new facility is over £240 million. A total of 53 permanent jobs will be created at SERC with around 200 jobs being created during its construction.

Support from Intermodality

Intermodality has worked alongside SITA to help with development of the rail services component of both bid submissions to the Waste Authorities. We are delighted that SITA has secured both major contracts, the strength of the rail component reflecting the close support provided by Network Rail, DB Schenker Rail UK, Potter Logistics and Sembcorp.

Published by Nick Gallop