COUNCILS have secured a multi-million deal to dispose of household waste.

Essex County Council and Southend Council have awarded eight companies a contract to recycle waste in a deal worth up to £200million.

They include Cory Environmental, Seneca Environmental Solutions, Suez recycling and recovery UK, Renewi UK, Veolia, Viridor Waste Management, James Waste Management and Hadleigh Salvage and Recycling.

Between them, the companies will be involved in transporting and dealing with the county’s waste, including 200,000 tonnes of waste a year, which is turned into fuel created from rubbish.

The waste has been dealt with at a mechanical biological treatment (MBT) plant in Courtauld Road, Basildon.

However, the plant has faced a number of setbacks. In January it was reported Basildon MBT was only generating around half of the estimated 180,000-220,000 tonnes of fuel per year.

Despite the fact that the compost-like fuel that can be burnt to generate electricity, Essex does not have the technology to do that and councils need to remove the fuel themselves.

Simon Walsh, Essex councillor responsible for environment and waste said: “The award of service orders under the Residual Waste Disposal Framework ensures Essex County Council is able to meet its statutory obligation.

“Our treatment route for residual waste is via the MBT facility in Basildon. This process produces a refuse derived fuel which the authority needs to dispose of.

“These service orders will secure an outlet for the fuel produced.

“In addition, the service orders awarded provide contingency arrangements should the MBT facility become unavailable at any time during its commissioning period, for example during periods of maintenance or other operational changes.

“These service orders also provide a treatment route for any waste types the MBT is not designed to treat.”

A spokesman for Southend Council later added: “We are a co-signatory on this contract as part of the Essex Waste Partnership, and this ensures we are able to meet our statutory obligations as a waste disposal authority in the future.”