But no matter how much people reduce, reuse and recycle - and people living in North Yorkshire are amongst the best in the country at this - there is still household waste which needs to be managed. This is called residual municipal waste.

What happens to the residual municipal waste?

North Yorkshire County Council is working in partnership with City of York Council to deliver a Joint Waste Strategy to deal with the area's rubbish for the next 25 years. Part of delivering the waste strategy is to treat residual waste - the rubbish which remains after Reduce, Reuse and Recycle activities have taken place, and Recover value from it. The Councils are working together to obtain a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) solution to achieve this.

The residents of North Yorkshire are amongst the best recyclers in the country, but even after reuse, recycle and reduction activities have taken place, there is still some household waste that has to be treated. At the moment this residual waste - around a quarter of a million tonnes of it every year - is sent to landfill sites across the County. But this cannot continue in the long term - these sites are filling up rapidly, and new government targets coupled with our own environmental strategies require that we find alternative, and sustainable solutions. We also need to ensure we can recover value from waste.

A long term solution

In 2007 the councils invited waste management companies to tender for a 25 year contract to manage the final treatment of York and North Yorkshire's residual household waste. Prior to this, the Councils had worked together to prepare an Outline Business Case (OBC) which was submitted to Defra and other partner organisations. This document reflected the regions waste management position at that time and has been further developed to become the basis of our successful bid for PFI credits. If you would like to read the OBC, please click on the document below. This document is supported by a series of 40 other documents - request a CD from wasteenquiries@northyorks.gov.uk

The closing date for receipt of initial solutions was December 2007 and in January 2008 a shortlist was produced. These companies were invited to submit detailed solutions to the Council. Once the solutions had been evaluated, two participating companies were taken forward.

North Yorkshire and City of York Councils have now selected AmeyCespa as the preferred bidder for the long term waste management contract following the Government’s confirmation that it has approved the awarding of £65 million in PFI credits – a form of grant funding – to the councils.

The contract is designed to allow York and North Yorkshire to reach, and even exceed, their target of recycling 50% of waste by 2020. It will also save the two authorities around £320 million on their combined waste management bills.

The solution being considered is designed to recover value from the waste left after reduction, recycling and reuse activities have taken place and turn it into a resource.

The technologies include mechanical sorting and reclamation of around 20,000 tonnes a year of recyclable materials left in the waste which arrives at the facility; Anaerobic Digestion (AD) to treat garden and food waste and produce green electricity ; and thermal treatment – Energy from Waste or EFW. The proposed location for this facility is Allerton quarry and landfill next to the A1M near Harrogate.

A public and stakeholder consultation is now underway to give people the opportunity to ask questions and make their views known before Councillors are asked to approve the award of the long term waste management contract. Please see the Your View leaflet below.

If Councillors agree the Councils will make the contract award to AmeyCespa, who will then submit a planning application for the facility. If the planning application is successful the plant will be operational in 2014.

Any proposal for new waste treatment facilities will of course be subject to normal regulatory consents including detailed planning permission and granting of a permit to operate by the Environment Agency.

You can find out more from our information leaflets below or by visiting Allerton Waste Recovery Park or www.northyorks.gov.uk