Minutes:
Richard Dobbs (Corporate Director – Streetscape at North Warwickshire Borough Council) presented an update for the MRF (materials recycling facility) project which was formed by several local authorities to build and run for dry recyclables; planning should start in the near future. The MRF was designed to carry its desired waste capacity and be flexible in periods of holiday waste increases; it was also designed to be flexible to updated waste strategies e.g. deposit return schemes. Some backlash was received from Coventry residents due to the MRF and other developments in the area affecting their highways. The MRF project would be largely self-sustainable in terms of power with several photovoltaics on the roof providing between 1/3-1/4 of power and the rest would be from a private wire from the waste plant’s energy next door. When the MRF has started production, it should not be taking any energy from the grid and will be solely powered from sustainable resources making the MRF as green and sustainable as possible.
The process contractors who would provide the machinery have been consulted with and numbers have been analysed for each of the perspective contractor which was promising. On the 18th December 2020 the preferred bidder was awarded the contract. The process engineering contract was awarded around the same time. There was a single bidder for the ‘civil’ contract, this was different as it did not focus on economic advantages but a quantity surveyor and consultant approach, but also through open book tendering for major works packages. The MRF will need to be owned by a company wholly owned by the local authorities who are partners, this will be set up with the procurement exercise by March-April 2021; the company will be called ‘Sherbourne Recycling’. Insurance and loans had been taken out to start the project and there are now 8 local authorities who sit on the company board and shareholder panel. Other local authorities and the private sector were contacted regarding the MRF dealing with their waste. The final figures were finalised in January 2021 and Richard Dobbs concluded that they want to have a presence in the waste industry as well as work with existing waste companies; the process and civil engineering contractors will be worked with to ensure this.
In response to the Chair, Richard Dobbs confirmed that the planning permission and affordability were looking positive, but the perspective affordability contractors varied from more traditional manual labour focused to automatic machinery focused. All were affordable but the viability on the continuation of these methods were being analysed.
In response to Councillor Jenny Fradgley’s concerns with AI taking up possible job opportunities, Richard Dobbs stated that the jobs taken up by AI systems would be the worst and more technologically advanced jobs. Non-AI jobs would focus on cleaning the AI systems but there would be less jobs than expected in traditional MRF’s. However, a lot of local employment would be generated around construction, maintenance, supply and haulage.
Following several queries raised by Councillor Ian Shenton, Richard Dobbs confirmed that other authorities were contacted regarding feedstock then to be partners of the MRF, some local authorities contacted him because they were interested in the MRF and had similar difficulties with waste management. This had allowed opportunities for future partnerships.
The MRF project was set up for today’s problems for local authorities who were on the board, but extra feedstock would be sought in the future to improve the MRF’s economic viability and return money to the investors. Richard Dobbs concluded that need to work through the financial implications and contractors needed to be confirmed. Work could be done to reduce costs but essentially investors needed to fell confident to invest in the MRF. The initial plans were reserved and would build up when possible, the facility will be set up to run for at least 30 years. The lowest amount of income return was set up for the initial plans too.