Tamworth Organic Waste Recycling Facility: council rejects all tenders and decides to design and run complex facility on its own

The $15 million project is part of the reason why the council plans to move to a fortnightly red bin pick-up, with kitchen scraps to be put in the green bin and processed there instead.

The council has decided it will design and run the facility and put another tender out for construction, mayor Col Murray said.

"Council did feel it was well above the expected costs and I think that's probably understandable, because certainly in my view there was an almost unreasonable shift in the ownership of the risk," he said.

"There are risks associated with this project, it's a fairly new process this organics facility, it's quite unique in that we have those large food processors with different types of animal waste included."

Tenders were considered too expensive and a question mark hung over who would be liable for biosecurity risks.

It's uncertain exactly how the council's decision will impact the cost, but it's hoped it will generate more income.

The facility would turn kitchen scraps, and eventually offal under a trial period, into compost-type products.

The development application has been approved under strict conditions by the Northern Regional Planning Panel.

That may need to be reviewed if significant changes are made during the detailed design phase.

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Four tenders were received for the project and a new tender will be released for the construction.

Cr Murray said the concept is well-established and there are a number of large organic waste recycling facilities around regional Australia.

"It's all about tunnel composting, which isn't new and it's very simple," he said.

"In my mind, it's a much simpler project to build than a bridge for example, and we build heaps of bridges.

"It will change the dynamics a little, it will push back the project marginally, but it still would have to be designed and constructed by a third party if we had stuck with our original tender process."

Tamworth's project differs from others in that it aims to process offal, or animal organs, which brings with it a potential risk of leachate contamination.

The new tender will be released once TRC has finalised its design.

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