PRE-TENDER REQUESTS FOR CLARIFICATION AND RESPONSES:    Issue 4; 9 Jan 2012.

SWaMP2008 

Notice of conclusion of audit

SWaMP2008 Conclusion of Audit Advert Nov 2011

In accordance with the Local Government (Accounts and Audit) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006, notice is given that the audit of the accounts for the year ended 31 March 2011 has been concluded by the local government auditor.  

Any member of the public may –

(a)                inspect and make copies of the statements of accounts (or any part of it) prepared by the Council;

(b)               inspect and make copies of (or any part of it) any report made to the Council by the local government auditor;

(c)                require copies of any such statement or report (or any part thereof) to be delivered to him/her on payment of £10 for each copy.

The above documents may be inspected at The Council Offices, The Palace Demesne, Armagh or at the SWaMP2008 offices, Omagh Enterprise Company Ltd, Great Northern Road, Omagh, between the hours of 9am and 5pm Monday to Fridays.

In addition the statement of accounts may be viewed on the SWaMP2008 Website www.swamp2008.org.uk

SWaMP2008 Statement of Accounts 2010-11

Accounts to 31st march 2011

NI Environment Minister Alex Attwood congratulated the SWaMP2008 team, Jason Patterson, Graham Byrne and Councillor Pearse McAleer on the Waste Discovery Truck which has won a prestigious UK-wide Green Apple Award

SWaMP2008 has won a prestigious Green Apple Environment Award in a national campaign to find the UK’s greenest companies, councils and communities.        

 SWaMP2008 competed against more than 500 other UK nominations and will be presented with their Green Apple Award at a glittering presentation ceremony in the House of Commons in London on November 14.

SWaMP2008 has won the Green Apple Award for its innovative Waste Education Vehicle, a mobile classroom used to visit schools and community events throughout the south and west of the province.  It is providing vital education and resources to drive recycling awareness throughout the region.  more »

SWaMP2008 Double Win at Environmental Youth Speak Finals

Pupils from two schools in the SWaMP2008 Waste Management Region scooped the Junior and Senior Northern Ireland Environmental Youth Speak titles when the annual schools’ environmental speaking competition reached its climax at the Craigavon Civic Centre.

Sean King from Saint Joseph’s Primary School Meigh, in Newry and Mourne District Council, won the NI Junior title and Christopher Corry from Lismore Comprehensive, in Craigavon Borough Council, won the NI Senior title.

Both pupils had to fight off stiff competition to win their Regional SWaMP2008 heats and then faced the winning pupils from the arc21 and North West Waste Management Regions – the two other NI Waste Management areas.

More than one thousand pupils from right across Northern Ireland took part in the competition which began initially at Council level in March. Two representatives from all twenty six Councils then travelled to Craigavon on Thursday 14th April to compete in the Regional and NI Finals.

Environmental Youth Speak is designed to encourage environmental awareness among young people by giving them the opportunity to research and debate environmental issues. The topics for this year’s competition were “Rethink Your Waste – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” and “Love Food hate Waste”. The competition, organised by Northern Ireland’s three waste Management groups  – arc21 (Eastern region), SWaMP2008 (Southern Waste Management Partnership) and North West Region Management Group – with sponsorship from  Cookstown Textile Recyclers, continues to be a highlight in schools’ environmental calendar in Northern Ireland.

Sean and Christopher are pictured with Nuala Mc Keever, who compered the NI Final, and Deputy Mayor of Craigavon Borough Council Councillor Kieran Corr.

Nuala McKeever, Sean King St Joseph’s PS Meigh (Junior NI Winner), Christopher Corry Lismore Comprehensive Craigavon (Senior NI Winner), Councillor Kieran Corr, Deputy Mayor Craigavon Borough Council.

Mayor welcomes “Love Food Hate Waste”

 Cookery Demonstration to Newry

Mayor, Councillor Mick Murphy welcomed the Love Food Hate Waste campaign, and Chef Paula McIntyre from Radio Ulster, to Newry Buttercrane Shopping Centre. Shoppers were able to see great meals being cooked from leftovers which otherwise would be thrown away. The cookery demonstrations are part of the Department of Environment’s Rethink Waste campaign which is travelling around  Northern Ireland.

Councillor Murphy said “This event is a fantastic idea. I am amazed at just how much food we throw away annually. It is important that everyone in Newry and Mourne thinks about how they can reduce their food waste by, for example, using leftover food in imaginative ways.”

The Love Food Hate Waste campaign aims to raise awareness of food waste and therefore reduce the amount of food waste we send to landfill. In the UK £12 billion is spent every year buying and then throwing away good food which costs the average family £680 a year equating to around £50 per month. The campaign shows that by doing some easy practical everyday things in the home we can all waste less food, which will ultimately benefit our purses and the environment too.

Tara Cunningham, Recycling officer added “Each year Newry and Mourne District council landfills approximately 40,000 tonnes of waste of which food waste is a large percentage. I would encourage everyone to visit the Love Food Hate Waste web site for lots of useful tips and ideas for reducing their food waste – helping not only the environment but also saving them money.”

Why not  check out over 170 recipes using typical leftovers at www.lovefoodhatewasteni.org .  For additional tips and ideas on how you can reduce, reuse and recycle log on to www.rethinkwasteni.org. 

Pictured are :

L-R Peter Murray Manager Buttercrane Shopping Centre, Michele Shirlow Food NI, Tara Cunningham Recycling Officer Newry and Mourne District Council, Mayor Councillor Mick Murphy, Paula McIntyre BBC Radio Ulster Chef, Hazel Audley Rethink Waste NI and Patrict McShane Environmental Co-ordinator Newry and Mourne District Council.

Web Site LFHW Newry 11.02.11

For all press enquiries relating to the Waste Infrastructure Project please contact Vicki Caddy or Alan Burnside on Tel: 028 9080 2000, E-mail: vcaddy@asgireland.com or aburnside@asgireland.com or for urgent press enquiries call Vicki Caddy on Mob. 07814 380487

The tender for provision of services for the processing and recycling of co-mingled mixed dry recyclable waste is now open.

See the Tenders section of this website.

Closing date for submissions is 12 noon, 18th January 2012.

The Southern Waste Management Partnership, SWaMP2008 has been informed by one of its bidders, the Greenstar-Biogen consortium, of its decision to withdraw from the tendering process for a residual waste treatment contract in the southern region of Northern Ireland.   

Graham Byrne, Chief Officer of SWaMP2008 said, “We wish Greenstar-Biogen well and are continuing the competitive tendering process with one remaining bidder – the Quinn Group.  

“Having been in detailed dialogue with both bidders for almost 12 months, we are at an advanced stage of negotiation on the full range of legal, technical and financial requirements of the contract. 

“We remain on track to deliver a robust and value for money solution that meets the needs of the region.”

NOTE: All  Tenders detailed on the Tender page are now closed.

Response tables to enquiries on tender documentation for each current tender have been added to the Tender page -  click Tenders for more details

SWAMP2008 & The North West Region Waste Management Group (NWRWMG) Tenders for the following services and supplies :

NOTE: All of the  Tenders below are now closed.

•           SERVICES FOR THE COLLECTION AND RECYCLING OF TYRES

•           SERVICES FOR THE COLLECTION DISPOSAL & TREATMENT OF ENGINE OIL,

            VEGETABLE OIL, PAINTS, VARNISHES & USED ENGINE OIL CONTAINERS

•           WASTE-RELATED CONSULTANCY SERVICES FRAMEWORK AGREEMENT

•           SUPPLY AND DELIVERY OF WHEELED REFUSE COLLECTION CONTAINERS,

             HOME COMPOST UNITS AND CADDIES

Full details and tender documentation may be obtained by emailing Jason Patterson, Technical Officer, SWaMP2008 at the following address:

jasonpatterson@swamp2008.org.uk

NOTE: All of the above Tenders are now closed.

SWaMP2008 AR 2009 2010 Departmental Version

SWaMP2008 has confirmed that it is making good progress with the two shortlisted bidders tendering for the contract to provide waste management infrastructure and services for the southern half of Northern Ireland. 

 The project is tasked with finding alternative ways of dealing with domestic waste in order to avoid dumping it in landfill.  The resulting infrastructure will be required to sort and treat waste, with a view to increasing recycling, recovering more reusable materials and using the residual waste as an alternative, sustainable energy source.

 The two short-listed bidders are Greenstar/Biogen and Quinn Group. more »

In accordance with the Local Government (Accounts and Audit) Regulations(Northern Ireland) 2006, notice is given that the audit of the accounts for the year ended 31 March 2010 has been concluded by the local government auditor.

Any member of the public may:

(a) inspect and make copies of the statements of accounts (or any part of it) prepared by the Council;

(b) inspect and make copies of (or any part of it) any report made to the Council by the local government auditor;

(c) require copies of any such statement or report (or any part thereof) to be delivered to him/her on payment of £10 for each copy.

The above documents may be inspected at The Council Offices, The Palace Demesne, Armagh or at the SWaMP2008 offices, Omagh Enterprise Company Ltd, Great Northern Road, Omagh, between the hours of 9.00am and 5.00pm Monday to Fridays.

In addition the statement of accounts may be viewed on the SWaMP2008 website www.swamp2008.org.uk

 SWaMP2008 Accounts 2009-10

In a bid to reduce the amount of plastic bags used within the SWaMP2008 (Southern Waste Management Partnership) area, each council has launched its annual Need a Bag? Week.   The initiative will help the 8 SWaMP2008 councils to avoid sending over 1 million plastic bags to local landfill!

The Need a Bag campaign aims to help shoppers think twice about using plastic bags and encourages them to move towards a more sustainable, environmentally-aware lifestyle. There are many helpful habits we can encourage:

• Switch to using reusable shopping bags.
• Keep your re-usable bags where you are likely to remember them e.g. in your handbag, jacket or car.
•  Say NO when offered new plastic bags in shops.
• Reuse the plastic bags you already have e.g. bin liners.
• Place unwanted plastic bags in the recycling points available in larger stores.

The Chief Officer of SWaMP2008,Graham Byrne, said, “Over 230 million plastic bags are sent to landfill in Northern Ireland each year- that’s 316 bags per person! We are running this campaign to encourage shoppers to take a few minutes before they leave the house to remember to take their re-useable shopping bags and to say no when offered more bags in the store. Each one of us as consumers needs to take an active role in minimising plastic bag usage and do all we can to maximise waste reduction.”

SWaMP2008 is also encouraging retailers to get involved in the Need a Bag? initiative by reminding staff to ask customers the simple question, “do you really need a bag?”

As part of the scheme SWaMP2008 has produced 8,000 limited edition ‘bag for life’ (re-usable) shopping bags for the 8 Member Councils to distribute. The shopping bags have been given to local shoppers at locations across the region.  As a result, over the course of next year, the equivalent of 1.2 million plastic carrier bags will be averted from landfill.

If you would like any more information on this campaign please contact the Recycling Officer at your local council. Use your ‘bag for life’ and reduce your waste!

SWaMP2008, The Southern Waste Management Partnership, has now short-listed four bidders to develop their proposals for the construction of waste management infrastructure for the southern half of Northern Ireland. 

The short-listed four are: Biffa Waste Services Ltd (with Natural World Products Ltd and Ros Roca Environmental SL), Greenstar Holdings (with BioGen Power Ltd, Strabag Umweltenlagen GMbH and Orchid Environmental Ltd), Northern Ireland Sustainable Solutions (Cyril Sweett Investments Ltd, Urbaser SA and John Sisk & Son Ltd) and Quinn Group Ltd (with Entsorga Italia SRL).

more »

Councillor Allan Rainey, Councillor John Campbell, Graham Byrne, Operational Director, Councillor Jack Patterson, Councillor Charles Rollston and Councillor Pearse McAleer pictured in Brussels

A delegation from SWaMP2008 has attended a conference in Brussels to hear the latest update on important European Waste Management legislation which is due to come into effect in Northern Ireland.

Waste is currently a high profile issue across Europe as every member state considers how to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill and how to reduce the consumption of raw materials through increased recycling.

In Brussels, the delegation attended a reception at the Northern Ireland Executive Offices, at which they met with MEPs Jim Nicholson, Bairbre de Brun and Diane Dodds. The SWaMP2008 party also met with MLAs from the NI Assembly Committee for Agriculture & Rural Development (DARD) including Committee Chairman, Ian Paisley Jnr, Tom Elliott, UUP MLA for Fermanagh & South Tyrone, George Savage, UUP MLA for Upper Bann and William Irwin, DUP MLA for Newry & Armagh.

more »

9-Year Old Anna Marley from Portadown has won a prestigious schools competition to create the name for a new multi-million pound Waste Management Project in the Southern Region of Northern Ireland. more »

Pupils and staff at McClintock Children’s Centre in Seskinore, Co Tyrone are enjoying their new green accolade: more »

Council’s pioneering project will divert household furniture from landfill

more »