The plant on a site next to the Dimmer landfill is to take up to 20,000 tonnes each year of food and green waste from household collections within Somerset, but has 15,000 tonnes of capacity going spare.
 Opening (left to right): Matthew Jones, Somerset county council; John Burns, Defra; Cllr John Sharpe, Wyvern Waste; Andrew Olie, Wyvern Waste |
The opening, which was carried out by the head of Defra's Waste Implementation Programme, John Burns, was attended by councils from Bath, Dorset, Wiltshire, South Gloucestershire and West Sussex.
Speaking at the opening, Wyvern managing director Andrew Olie said: “Those of you from neighbouring local authorities may wish to link up with us to explore development opportunities – possibly even trialling some materials through the systems here to demonstrate capability in the short-term before developing something in your own patch.”
With funding from a Defra grant, the new in-vessel system has been designed and constructed by Wyvern, technology specialists Wasteology and construction firm IKON Construction.
System
Source-separated food waste is mixed with green waste to the appropriate consistency within the reception building, before being shredded with a Jenz AZ35 machine to particles below 200mm in size.
This then passes through a two-stage in-vessel process over a two-week period, with material heated up to 60 degrees centigrade for two continuous days in each seven-day stage. The plant has six vessels, each with a load capacity of 180 tonnes. Waste is then matured for six to 10 weeks before being screened for use as a compost product.
” This new in-vessel compost plant will go a long way in helping to push Somerset's recycling rate to 40%.“
– John Burns, Defra
Opening the facility, Mr Burns said: “It is fantastic to see first hand the results of the grant that Defra gave to the Somerset Waste Partnership, and I am delighted to be able to official open this new in-vessel compost plant which will go a long way in helping to push Somerset's recycling rate to 40%.”
Rotary
Later in the year, council-owned Wyvern Waste is installing a rotary in-vessel composting system at the plant, which will had been intended for use treating former foodstuffs from catering businesses.
The requirement for treating former foodstuffs after December 2006 has been removed (see letsrecycle.com story), but Wyvern is still going ahead with its rotary system, and is talking to commercial customers about taking raw meats and fish, which are already banned from landfill according to Chris Jonas, Wyvern's contracts manager.
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