The London Waste and Recycling Board has awarded waste and recycling company Bywaters £4.5 million to almost double the materials sorting capacity at its site at Bow in East London.
The Board, which was set up by the Mayor of London Boris Johnson to give a strategic steer on waste infrastructure in the capital, said that the new MRF would feature “state-of-the-art” equipment and would be the “latest of its kind” in use in the UK.
The expansion – which is set to be completed by the end of 2011 – will bring the site's sorting capacity to 260,000 tonnes-a-year.
James Cleverly, chair of the London Waste and Recycling Board (LWaRB), said: “Bywaters' great new recycling facility is planned to be up and running in just over a year, in time for the 2012 Games.
“This investment ticks all the right boxes, not only will it divert an additional 142,000 tonnes of recycling from landfill each year, but will also create new employment opportunities for Londoners,” he added.
The announcement was welcomed by Bywaters' head of strategic development, David Rumble, who said: “Bywaters is investing in recycling facilities that London needs, this will benefit both municipal and commercial customers and is good news for London.”
Business plan
The Bywaters facility is one of two MRFs that the LWaRB now plans to provide funding for in 2010/11. The Board had originally planned to allocate £12 million in total to MRF and recycling projects, but since having to revise its business plan as a result of a £10.6 million, or 13% funding cut from Defra last month (see letsrecycle.com story), it now only plans to award £8 million in support.
In total, seven projects have now received LWaRB funding to date.
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