Urbaser Balfour Beatty Selected for Residual Waste Contract

19th December 2011

Urbaser Balfour Beatty is celebrating after it was named Preferred Bidder last week by Gloucestershire County Council for its 25 year contract to design, build and operate an energy-from-waste facility at Javelin Park, Haresfield near Junction 12 of the M5.

Urbaser Project Director, Javier Peiro, commented on the announcement, “We are absolutely thrilled to have been selected as preferred bidder by Gloucestershire County Council. Our proposed energy-from-waste facility will ensure any waste left over after recycling and composting is used to increase Gloucestershire’s renewable energy production by over 50%.”

He continued, “We wish to particularly thank all of the local residents who attended the two public exhibitions as part of our pre-planning consultation and those that have commented on our proposal to date. We have taken into account all feedback received and we will continue to work closely with the community to ensure our facility protects the environment and delivers real local benefits.”

The energy-from-waste facility at Javelin Park will divert over 91% of Gloucestershire’s residual municipal waste from landfill and generate an estimated 116,000MW hours of electricity annually - sufficient to power more than 25,000 homes. Diversion of residual waste, i.e. that waste which is left over after reuse, recycling and composting, through the energy-from-waste facility will prevent the equivalent annual greenhouse gas emissions of nearly one million cars.

A special feature of Urbaser Balfour Beatty’s proposal is the on-site recycling of the bottom ash to produce a sustainable aggregate replacement. Throughout the life of the contract Urbaser Balfour Beatty also expects to recycle enough metals from the waste to build the equivalent of over 6,000 Javelin jet fighter planes.

The facility has been designed to be sympathetic to the characteristics and local history of the area. An education and visitor centre will provide a meeting and event space for the local community which will provide a valuable resource for Gloucestershire to promote waste minimisation and recycling. The wildlife and amenity area will encourage a range of species to the site with ponds, woodland and gardens.