It will initially take in commercial waste from Yorkshire premises, including hotels and offices, but Sterecycle is hoping to secure a number of local authority contracts. One of these is Neath Port Talbot council in Wales which has shortlisted the company for a 25-year agreement. This would require 160,000 tonnes of household black bag waste to be treated each year.
And it has also expressed an interest in a waste treatment contract for which three local authorities in Yorkshire – Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham – have launched a joint procurement process.
Sterecycle has already built its Rotherham recycling technology off site and has started transporting the equipment to the six acre facility in Yorkshire. When the plant opens for business early next year, it will create 40 new jobs in the region.
“Our autoclave technology means that much of the waste that is traditionally landfilled can be recycled cleanly and safely. We have secured a fantastic site and have space to increase the capacity of the facility,” he added.
Technology
Sterecycle has said its commercial waste autoclave will be the first in Europe. It will treat black bag waste in its autoclave vessels through a combination of steam and pressure – a technology which has been patented.
It will then sort the material using standard separation equipment such as size screening and magnetic separation to divide the recyclables from the residual waste.
The end materials from the process include metals, plastics, glass, textiles and also a biomass fibre, which Sterecycle has named Sterefibre. The company claims this can be used as a renewable energy source or as a soil conditioner.
Sterecycle said it has raised more than £10 million of equity finance from environmental investors including Goldman Sachs International. It added that it has a credit facility of more than £70 million and aims to build at least five autoclave plants in the UK over the next three years (see letsrecycle.com story).
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