Operation & maintenance of landfill gas and leachate management systems at Corby closed landfill site

North Northamptonshire Council (hereafter referred to as the "Council") is seeking a suitably qualified and experienced Supplier to provide Operation and Maintenance Services for landfill gas and leachate extraction systems and other provisions at Corby Closed Landfill Site. The Services will commence on 1st April 2027 for a duration of 3 years, with an option to extend for a further 12 months.

Corby Closed Landfill Site is located on the northern outskirts of the town of Corby, in North Northamptonshire, grid reference SP877 912. It covers approximately seventeen hectares of which thirteen hectares is landfill. A small part of the site is owned by the Council, but the remainder is leased under a long-term agreement with a local landowner.

The Landfill is formed by three (3) cells and a leachate treatment plant. There is a mature tree plantation next to the landfill which also forms part of the site. The volume of wastes within the landfill is estimated to be in the region of 1.4 million cubic metres, with a maximum depth of approximately eighteen metres. The landfill was created in a void (the Gullet) left from the extensive opencast mining of ironstone. Waste was disposed at the site from the early 1970's until the early 1990's when the site was subsequently restored with clay and soil. The waste inputs were largely municipal solid wastes but with some industrial waste.

The landfill has no form of impermeable containment and as such is defined as a 'dilute and disperse' site. The site has been capped, soiled, and seeded and there is infrastructure in place to extract and treat gas and leachate.

The site has an inert Waste Management Licence (WML) with the Environment Agency (EA) for the importation of capping materials to the site. In 2000, the WML was modified to the Licence that is still in place today. There are several ambiguities to this Licence over which the Council has negotiated local agreements with the EA so that it more accurately reflects the site's characteristics. A Gas Management Plan and a Leachate Management Plan have been approved by the EA which provide the Council with a framework in which to operate the Site and ensures the Site remains in compliance with the Permit.

A gas abstraction system and flare stack were installed in the 1990s, after the landfill was closed, and various upgrades have been made together with the installation of several additional combined landfill gas and leachate extraction wells since then.

A leachate extraction system was also installed in the mid-1990s which includes a treatment plant, with three aerated treatment lagoons. The treated leachate is discharged to a nearby sewerage network under a Trade Effluent Consent with Anglian Water.

The main requirement of this contract is to undertake operation and maintenance tasks to the extraction systems, plant and equipment via detailed schedules of work to ensure the Council complies with the Environmental Permit, Trade Effluent Consent and Lease agreement. The Provider would also be required to undertake routine environmental monitoring and produce performance reports on a regular basis. The Provider would also be required to work closely with the Council's technical support provider and grounds maintenance contractor.

The Council plans to publish the tender documents in September this year. There will be an opportunity for bidders to visit the site and seek clarifications during the tender process.