Material Change Announced as Preferred Bidder for Essex Bio-waste Contract

Material Change are delighted to announce that we have been appointed Preferred Bidder for Essex County Council’s 20 year bio-waste contract.

Essex County Council issued the following Press Release:

A company has been selected as the preferred bidder to treat and recycle food and garden waste from kerbside collections in Essex and Southend.

Material Change Ltd has been chosen from six companies who bid for the work to treat bio-waste from Essex and Southend.

Material Change has proposed to use an Anaerobic Digestion facility in Halstead to treat household food waste collected by local Essex authorities and a combined anaerobic digestion in-vessel composting facility in Basildon to treat kerbside-collected mixed food and garden waste.

The company’s partner, Tamar Energy, has planning permission and is currently building an Anaerobic Digestion facility in Halstead which will take food waste collected from households in the north of the county.

It is proposed that the anaerobic digestion in-vessel composting facility will be built at a site off Courtauld Road, Basildon, next to a mechanical biological treatment facility under construction by Urbaser Balfour Beatty. Material Change will need to apply for planning permission for the Basildon plant.

Food and garden waste will be treated to produce agricultural soil improver, liquid fertilizer and biogas, some of which is used to power the treatment plant with the remainder sent to the National Grid.

Cllr Roger Walters, Essex County Council Cabinet Member for Waste and Recycling, said: “Most residents throughout Essex now have their food waste collected, whether this is by a separate collection or a collection combined with their garden waste”.

“This new contract is good news for residents as it will mean that food waste is managed in a more cost effective and sustainable way, creating renewable energy and contributing to our overall plan for treating waste in the county”.

Cllr Tony Cox, Southend-on-Sea Portfolio Holder for Public Protection, Waste and Transport, said “Residents of Southend are experienced in food recycling and this has helped divert more waste away from landfill. The new contract will deliver further environmental benefits and ensure we have a cost effective sustainable solution for dealing with our food waste for the long term”.
Ed Bastow, Material Change Managing Director, said: “We are very pleased to have achieved Preferred Bidder status by Essex County Council with Southend-on-Sea Borough Council. We are proud that we can offer a solution whereby the food and mixed food and garden waste produced by local residents is able to be treated locally. This means that transport costs are kept to a minimum and emissions of methane and carbon dioxide are reduced”.

Material Change, as preferred bidder, is not guaranteed to be awarded the contract, but it is a strong indication that Essex County Council and Southend-on-Sea Borough Council will enter into the contract once this is finalised.

The contract is for 20 years with an option to extend for a further five years.