Plymouth's Waste to Energy Facility to Save Taxpayers 560 Million

06 April 2011 The planned waste to energy facility in Plymouth, UK could cost taxpayers up to £560 million less than expected, according to a report in the Plymouth Herald. The facility, commissioned by a partnership of Plymouth, Devon and Torbay councils, is expected to handle up to 250,000 tonnes of waste per year. After a lengthy tendering process, the partnership settled on a bid by the German company MVV Umwelt. The partnership signed a contract to provide the 25 year solution at the Weston Mill area of Devonport Naval Base, to deal with residual waste from Plymouth, Torbay and South Devon. A spokeswoman for the South West Devon Waste Partnership said: "At the outset of the project the partnership estimated that a comparable energy-from-waste solution would cost around £825million. Because MVV has been able to sell the electricity and steam from the process, the actual cost of MVV's solution is £436million, which is £389million less than expected." In addition, by working together the three councils say they have secured central government PFI credit support worth another £177million over the lifetime of the project. This means the partnership councils only have to fund £259million for the waste solution instead of the estimated £825million. According to The Herald, the partnership spokeswoman added: "To compare with what we are doing at the moment, the cost of continuing with landfill and recycling is estimated to be £1,701million. The cost of MVV's solution and recycling is £1,026million, equating to a saving of £675million." Cllr Mark Coker, Labour's spokesman on the incinerator, said: "I welcome this news but I need to study the figures because this has never been said before. It's strange it's coming to light now." Read more about this project HERE.