TATA and EON abandon West London waste contract

CHAIN have today issued a press release which reads as follows:

TATA and E-ON abandon West London waste contract

CHAIN has been officially informed that TATA and E-ON have withdrawn from the tendering
process for the West London Waste Authority (WLWA) waste contract and did not submit a
final bid before the deadline that expired on 28 February 2013. Consequently, the sole
remaining bid is from SITA UK Limited. Had TATA and E-ON been successful, they intended to
transport 300,000 tonnes per annum of municipal waste a distance 200 miles from London to
Lostock , a residential part of Northwich, for incineration.

In a letter from their solicitors, both companies indicate that they will seek other waste
contracts to fuel the incinerator. CHAIN is currently challenging the Government decision to
grant planning permission for the Northwich incinerator by way of a judicial review that is
scheduled to be heard on 1 May in the High Court at Manchester.
Brian Cartwright, CHAIN Chairman, stated:

“We must give a guarded welcome to this decision because it was always irresponsible
nonsense to be seriously contemplating sending Londoners’ rubbish halfway up the country
to Cheshire to be incinerated. You will not be surprised to hear that CHAIN and many of our
supporters, including members of Cheshire West and Chester Council, have been in contact
with the Board of the WLWA on many occasions and pointed this out to them.

We are concerned that TATA and E-ON say that they intend to seek other contracts to supply
waste to feed the monster they want to build practically in the centre of Northwich. It is to be
hoped that they will pause before they do so and review the whole basis of their project. I
have in mind, for example, the recent research report by independent experts that there will
be 6.9 million tonnes excess treatment capacity, which includes incineration, in the UK by
2015/16. Quite simply, there will not be near enough waste to go round. Here in the North
West, with huge new plants going up in Runcorn and near Frodsham, the situation will be
even worse. There are real risks that people will be deterred from recycling and incinerator
operators would have to import garbage from across Europe for burning which would be utter
insanity.

CHAIN and the people of Northwich have been fighting together against an incinerator in the
town for over five years and we are determined to stay in the fight for as long as it takes. We
are very hopeful that our legal challenge will succeed although we are still seeking financial
support from the public which would improve our prospects. There is also the distinct
possibility that municipalities and local councils in the UK who may be seeking ways of
treating their waste will see the injustice and folly of sending it to what is a highly populated
residential part of a small town in Cheshire for burning. No waste, no waste incinerator.”