AN EXTRA 30,000 tonnes of rubbish a year could be processed at a Westbury recycling plant as the company running it looks to recycle 50% more than it does now.
The Northacre Resource Recovery Centre (RRC), owned by Hills Group, has applied for permission to process 90,000 tonnes of waste per year – up from the current 60,000 – to reduce the amount of waste the county sends to landfill.
The plant on the West Wilts Trading Estate dries out the rubbish under special conditions to make ‘solid recovered fuel’ for European power stations.
A Hills spokesperson said, “It has become apparent that the capacity of the plant can far exceed the conservative estimates that were made when it was originally designed.
“Rather than underutilise such a valuable resource, Hills has submitted a planning application seeking to operate at an additional 30,000 tonnes per year to maximise its capabilities and the amount of waste diverted from landfill.”
Hills Waste Solutions is paid by Wiltshire Council to process the rubbish, and says it could produce 42,300 tonnes of usable fuel from the 90,000 tonnes of recycled waste. The company says it does not profit from the fuel, but instead the power stations in Holland and Germany, which use it instead of fossil fuels, charge to take it away.
The company says the change would have no significant impact on people living nearby, and that surveys done for the original planning application had accounted for the plant working at full capacity.
“The change requires no new infrastructure,” the spokesperson said. “The acceptance of waste is restricted to between 7am and 6pm daily and this will not change. The current planning permission allows the site to operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
“A review of the original Environmental Impact Assessment which accompanies the planning application shows that there is no significant effect in relation to this proposed change and additional vehicle movements have been assessed by traffic consultants to not be significant in terms of existing highway conditions.”
To see or comment on the application use reference 16/08074/WCM in the planning search at www.wiltshire.gov.uk
