Onyx preferred bidder for Notts 26-year PFI waste contract

The decision on the £800 million contract comes after four years of negotiation and Nottinghamshire will now work with Onyx to develop the current proposals with a view to making an official appointment within the calendar year.

Leader of the county council, David Kirkham said: “The tender from Onyx is seen to offer the best potential solution. Onyx has a great deal of experience and offers a quality service. The county council has worked closely with the districts in their capacity as waste authorities whilst making the decision and we look forward to progressing the details further.”

If agreed, Onyx would commit to delivering recycling and composting rates of 52% by 2020 through kerbside collection of mixed dry recyclables, green waste and glass. It would also have to make sure there is no direct delivery of material to landfill from 2011.

A range of new waste treatment facilities would have to be developed for the county including an 80,000 tonnes per annum materials recycling facility in Mansfield, a new composting facility at Bilsthorpe, a network of new transfer stations and the construction of a ‘state-of-the-art’ 180,000 tonne per annum energy recovery facility to convert the remaining residual waste into power from 2011 when direct delivery of waste to landfill will cease.

Cyrille de Peloux, CEO of Onyx UK said he was delighted and proud to have achieved preferred bidder status. “We appreciate that there is much work to be undertaken before the contract is signed but are confident that our experience in managing large integrated waste management contract will help meet the challenges of recycling and landfill diversion targets faced by Nottinghamshire.”

By David Hopkins