Responding to recent erroneous claims made by No-arc21 and shared publicly about the proposed arc21 residual waste project Indaver have said;
“These claims and calculations from No-Arc21 have simply no basis in fact. While we acknowledge and respect their right to voice concerns about the project it is wholly unhelpful and unfortunate that they feel it appropriate to pedal misinformation like this especially when they are not in a position of direct experience or knowledge to make the assertions that they have.
“It would appear to us that the impending planning decision is being deliberately conflated with the separate procurement process which will only resume after planning permission is achieved. We are acutely aware of the need for Indaver to make a compelling and competitive proposal to the arc21 councils and remain committed to doing so. It is at this important procurement phase that councils will all get the opportunity to weigh up the business case and establish whether they think our commercial bid meets their identified strategic need, allows them to meet their current and future waste management obligations and represents value for money for their ratepayers. If they conclude that it doesn’t, they will then have to consider the alternatives to this project.
As part of the procurement process, an economic appraisal will be undertaken which will not only weigh up the value proposition to consider what councils are currently paying for their residual waste management solutions including landfill and waste export, but will assess the merits of the project part of which will consider the commercial benefits which can accrue from the project, following which any recommendation will be subject to democratic decision-making. These benefits include the fact that the procurement will result in a valuable council-owned asset and the potential for councils to avail of a revenue share opportunity from the sale of electricity and recycled material generated by the project throughout the term of the contract. That’s before you consider the economic benefits from a private sector investment of circa £250m in much needed public infrastructure here which will bring with it local jobs and investment as well as increased rates income for the host council.
“It is also important to point out that both the terms or length of any contract have also yet to be agreed and will be subject to future negotiations, so any calculations and assertions offered by No-arc21 are entirely premature and disingenuous. We will not be found wanting in offering flexibility to the councils to meet their needs and can categorically give a commitment today that we will never ask councils to divert waste that would otherwise go to recycling to the Energy from Waste plant. Importantly the project is likely to contribute to the councils’ recycling rates, through a pre-treatment process which could extract any valuable materials remaining in the black bin waste.
“Safe and legally complaint waste management of residual black bin waste is essential to human health and the environment. Any future council decision making process will not only consider their current and future obligations in this regard, but will no doubt also weigh up the alternatives to deal with our residual non-recyclable black bin waste in a responsible and robust manner. For example, they will have to consider the risks of the increased export of this type of waste for energy recovery elsewhere, where local councils would remain subject to the vagaries of European waste markets which are notoriously volatile and are becoming increasingly prohibitive in some cases. At the same time landfill taxes are also due to increase from next April by over 21.5% to £126.15 per tonne, another financial reality which councils will have to assess the implications of.
“During the long running planning process over the last 10 years, it is important to point out that the project has received no objections from over 70 statutory consultee responses including from the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA), Public Health Agency and DfI Roads Service. The project has also previously been recommended for approval four times by both the Department for Infrastructure (DfI) Strategic Planning Directorate, and by an independent Planning Appeals Commission review which followed a previous Ministerial decision. A second Ministerial decision in 2022 to refuse planning permission was later quashed on the grounds of rationality. We remain hopeful that in 2025 we will be in a position to receive a robust and evidence-based planning decision which will allow the project to proceed to the next important stage of procurement, where councils will then be in a position to evaluate the entire strategic business case and accept or reject the proposals.”
ENDS