The ‘Clean Green Future’ (Dyfodol Gwyrdd Glân) project team is a partnership of Welsh Local Authorities in collaboration with the Welsh Government, that are seeking to procure an affordable and sustainable treatment/recycling solution for absorbent hygiene product (AHP) waste in Wales.
Dyfodol Gwyrdd Glân is being led by Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council who will now take this forward working collaboratively with the Welsh Government and 17, if not all 22 local authorities involved.
The partnership will host an Industry Day on 20 January 2020 at Dare Valley Country Park, Aberdare, to engage with potential service providers to gain market understanding, obtain feedback and gauge levels of interest.
The partnership plans to procure a provider to design, build, fund, operate and maintain an AHP treatment facility or facilities within Wales with an option for the authority to contribute capital funding. The term proposed is up to 20 years commencing in 2022. A separate haulage contract will be procured.
Hannah Blythyn, Deputy Minister for Housing and Local Government, will provide the key note speech on future aspirations for AHP in Wales, plus members of the project team and experts from Ricardo consulting, Capital Law and Natural Resources Wales.
It is estimated that there are around 40,000 tonnes of AHP in the waste stream in Wales. The amount of waste generated by the use of AHP can make up to 9% of the kerbside collected residual waste.
The project will offer two references sites (Bryn Pica in the South and Waen in the North of Wales), although it is proposed that bidders may bring forwards their own sites. It is currently assumed that both reference sites are, or can be made suitable for waste management use.
The closing date is 13 January.
Meanwhile the Welsh Government has published the Draft Budget 2020 to 2021, which sets out revenue and capital spending plans.
In an accompanying narrative document the government said it: “will maintain our approach to funding investment by maximising the drawdown of the least expensive forms of capital first and only using more expensive forms of private investment in projects that are low risk and of the appropriate scale.”
The three Mutual Investment Model schemes are noted as “ensuring vital facilities for the public are accessible sooner than would otherwise have been available through capital budgets”.
The draft Budget documents are available by clicking here.