WMRC Meeting Agenda Notes

The WMRC Ordinary Council Meeting Agenda was posted this afternoon on the WMRC website.
Here’s some extracts relating to AnaeCo (NOTE: AWT = Advanced Waste Treatment. Some references to ‘DiCOM’ in this agenda appear to be used out of context and actually refer to either AWT or AnaeCo):

Page 6: “The original 2014/15 budget forecast the DiCOM plant to begin operation in a limited way starting in November 2014 and then quickly ramping up in the following months. This has not happened with the additional costs of payment to DiCOM therefore not being relevant to the end of April 2015. Consequently the WMRC has a far greater surplus to budget as at 30 April 2015.

Page 8: “Fees and Charges…YTD Budget $6,673,872. YTD Actual $4,395,208. Difference $2,278,664.. Comment – DiCOM plant not yet operating to budget.” MY COMMENT: This (and the point from page 6 above) implies that had the plant been operating fees and charges for the period from Nov 14 to Mar 15 would = ~$2.28m.

Page 8: “Materials and contracts…YTD Budget $5,327,279. YTD Actual $2,982,830. Difference $2,344,449.. Comment – DiCOM plant not yet operating to budget.”

Page 9: “Fees and Charges…YTD Budget $7,299,659. YTD Actual $4,832,051. Difference $2,467,608.. Comment – DiCOM plant not yet operating to budget.” MY COMMENT: This (and the point from page 6 above) implies that had the plant been operating fees and charges for the period from Nov 14 to Apr 15 would = ~$2.47m.

Page 9: “Materials and contracts…YTD Budget $5,793,536. YTD Actual $3,349,704. Difference $2,443,832.. Comment – DiCOM plant not yet operating to budget.”

Page 22: “Tonnages (page 4) The budget predictions for waste receivals [sic] for the 2015/2016 financial year assume a continuation of waste receivals [sic] from 2014/2015, but incorporate an anticipated increase in waste processed at the AWT plant.

Page 23: “DiCOM waste processing. DiCOM now indicates it will commence partial capacity operation in July 2015 [my bold]. If DiCOM is successful this will require the payment of a service charge in 2015-16 which will increase the WMRC’s total cost for disposing of putrescible waste on current costs. The service charge payable to DiCOM is still to be finalised with but must be based on the provisions of the WSA. WMRC’s best assessment is that a maximum of 36,000 tonnes is likely to be processed by the DiCOM plant in 2015/16. Financial provision in the 2015/16 budget to cover WMRC costs is based on this assessment. To cover increased costs without increasing member gate fees it is proposed the surplus from 2015/16 be used to wholly offset these increases.”

Page 24: “DiCOM service charge: The final DiCOM Service Charge will be agreed once the facility has commenced operations and its costs better understood. The service charge for this budget has been set at the October 2013 cost base extrapolated out to current cost plus 10% as per the contract. A small change to the DiCOM Service Charge has a substantial impact on the net operating result.”

Page 24: “DiCOM commencement date: DiCOM now indicates it will commence partial capacity operation in July 2015. This budget has been formulated on the premise that DiCOM will process 36,000 tonnes in the 2015/2016 year [my bold]. The facility’s commencement has experienced ongoing delays so a later start date cannot be ruled out.”

Page 28: “WMRC applied for an amendment to its existing Department of Environment Regulation (DER)
licence in November 2014.
This amendment requested changes to the licence as follows:

1. The quantity limit of Municipal Solid Waste received at the transfer station be amended to 110,000 tonnes per year. Of this, 60,000 tonnes per year would represent the waste delivered to the AWT Plant. Under the requested limit, the WMRC handled waste (waste not delivered to the AWT Plant) would represent 50,000 tonnes per year, some 5,000 tonnes per year less than the current limit of 55,000 tonnes per year.

1. To allow for minor amounts of waste to be stored in the silo system over weekends. The WMRC’s current practice is that on some weekends, where only minor amounts of waste are received, this waste remains on the premises until Monday morning. Waste is stored in silos. Silo lids are closed outside of operating hours.”

Page 29: “DER responded with a proposed Amended licence on 7 May 2014.
This proposed amendment:

• Accepts requests 1 and 2 above;”

Page 37: “AWT Plant Commissioning
733 tonnes were processed in March 2015; of these 370 tonnes were supplied by WMRC Councils.
476 tonnes were processed in April 2015; of these 282 tonnes were supplied by WMRC Council
Commissioning is progressing slowly. In March and April and the first weeks of May, the Plant conducted five week-long shutdowns to address issues and carry out operational improvements.
Control of liquids from the AWT Plant overflowing into the WMRC portion of the site has been an ongoing problem. The liquids in question are polluted water, which cannot be handled by the stormwater system. There are temporary solutions in place and plans to upgrade the drainage system as a more permanent solution during the next weekly shutdown which is currently scheduled for 22nd June.”

Page 39: “MATTERS BEHIND CLOSED DOORS
14.1 Confidential Progress Report
The report entitled “Confidential Progress Report-DiCOM Project- 4 June 2015” has been circulated separately under separate cover” Due to the commercial, confidential and legal privilege nature of this material it is recommended discussion by Council of the report with all appendices take place behind closed doors. This report will be emailed to councillors on the 2 June 2015”

Cheers