Work Starts on WRAP-funded In-Vessel Composting Facility
14 September 2006
A £3million project for the construction of a new in-vessel composting facility, supported by £560,000 of WRAP (the Waste & Resources Action Programme) funding, has begun in Derbyshire.
The tunnel composting facility, at Etwall in Derbyshire, will be constructed at Biffa’s existing garden waste composting site and is the fourth in-vessel operation to have received funding from WRAP’s Organics Capital Support Programme. It will be built by G F Tomlinson with equipment supplied by Christiaens Group, which brings over 25 years of experience to the project. The facility will allow Biffa Waste Services Ltd to start processing kitchen waste at the site from March 2007.
The new facility will have the capacity to compost 24,000 tonnes of organic waste every year, bringing the total annual in-vessel capacity currently supported by WRAP to around 80,000 tonnes.
Three local authorities will benefit from the new site - East Staffordshire Borough Council, South Derbyshire District Council and Lichfield District Council, enabling each to include kitchen waste in the range of recyclables collected from households.
David Knott, a Director of Biffa Waste Services Ltd, said:
“The new in-vessel composting facility will now allow us to accept kerbside collected kitchen waste for recycling at the Etwall site. The conversion of this into a reusable soil conditioning compost for use within the landscaping sector will divert even more material from landfill and help 3 local authorities meet their statutory recycling targets".
Louise Hollingworth, Supply Programme Manager – Organics, said:
“This project marks a crucial step in taking us further towards meeting our challenging target of increasing the UK's processing capacity for biodegradable municipal waste by 450,000 tonnes per annum by March 2008.
“We look forward to announcing a further capital support programme in October 2006.”
The tunnel composting facility, at Etwall in Derbyshire, will be constructed at Biffa’s existing garden waste composting site and is the fourth in-vessel operation to have received funding from WRAP’s Organics Capital Support Programme. It will be built by G F Tomlinson with equipment supplied by Christiaens Group, which brings over 25 years of experience to the project. The facility will allow Biffa Waste Services Ltd to start processing kitchen waste at the site from March 2007.
The new facility will have the capacity to compost 24,000 tonnes of organic waste every year, bringing the total annual in-vessel capacity currently supported by WRAP to around 80,000 tonnes.
Three local authorities will benefit from the new site - East Staffordshire Borough Council, South Derbyshire District Council and Lichfield District Council, enabling each to include kitchen waste in the range of recyclables collected from households.
David Knott, a Director of Biffa Waste Services Ltd, said:
“The new in-vessel composting facility will now allow us to accept kerbside collected kitchen waste for recycling at the Etwall site. The conversion of this into a reusable soil conditioning compost for use within the landscaping sector will divert even more material from landfill and help 3 local authorities meet their statutory recycling targets".
Louise Hollingworth, Supply Programme Manager – Organics, said:
“This project marks a crucial step in taking us further towards meeting our challenging target of increasing the UK's processing capacity for biodegradable municipal waste by 450,000 tonnes per annum by March 2008.
“We look forward to announcing a further capital support programme in October 2006.”
Editor's notes:
- WRAP (the Waste & Resources Action Programme) is a major UK programme established to promote resource efficiency. Its particular focus is on creating stable and efficient markets for recycled materials and products and removing the barriers to waste minimisation, re-use and recycling.
- A not-for-profit company, WRAP is backed by substantial Government funding from Defra and the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
- Working in seven key areas (Construction, Retail, Manufacturing, Organics, Business Growth, Behavioural Change, and Local Authority Support), WRAP’s work focuses on market development and support to drive forward recycling and materials resource efficiency within these sectors, as well as wider communications and awareness activities including the multi-media national Recycle Now campaign for England.
- More information on all of WRAP’s programmes can be found at www.wrap.org.uk
Press Office
Senior Press Officer
WRAP
Tel: 01295 819695
press.office@wrap.org.uk
Barry Walton
Biffa Waste Services
Tel: 0208 5405045
barry.walton@biffa.co.uk
