A COMPANY which converts waste into energy has signed a 25-year contract with three Gwent local authorities to treat their residual waste.

Yesterday Viridor signed a Public Private Partnership (PPP) contract with Cardiff City Council, acting on behalf Prosiect Gwyrdd – a partnership of five local authorities including Newport, Monmouthshire and Caerphilly, to treat the councils’ residual waste over the next 25 years.

The waste from the five authorities, including Vale of Glamorgan, will be treated at Viridor’s £223 million Energy from Waste (EfW) facility which is currently being built in Cardiff and due for completion next year.

It is expected Prosiect Gwyrdd will deliver an average of 172,000 tonnes of waste per year, with the plant also taking up to 178,000 tonnes of commercial and industrial waste from across South Wales.

Operating at its full capacity of 350,000 tonnes, the facility will generate 28 MW of power by producing electricity, which is enough energy to provide 50,000 households entire electric needs.

The five councils will start sending waste from September 2015, with full service starting on April 1 2016.