£30 million recycling plant nears completion in Leicester

The city council’s waste contractor, Biffa will operate the new recycling plant under its £300 million 25-year waste management contract which started in April 2003 (see letsrecycle.com story).

The new plant will process unsorted household waste for composting and recycling by using a ball mill. Biffa describes this European technology as “like a giant washing machine drum containing 12lb steel balls” which will break down waste into smaller pieces for recycling.

“The new recycling plant will be the most advanced in the UK.” – Biffa Leicester’s general manager Mick Davis

Mick Davis, general manager of Biffa Leicester, said: “The new recycling plant will be the most advanced in the UK. We expect it to be complete in February 2004 and, following a period of testing, will begin accepting mixed refuse collected from the city’s 117,000 households in May 2004.”

Work on a new anaerobic composting facility in Wanlip is also nearing completion to take the organic waste recovered by the ball mill. Expected to start operations by April 2004, this 7 million anaerobic digester will be able to process 40,000 tonnes per year, producing compost for use on agricultural land.

Collections

In addition to the new waste processing facilities in the city, Biffa is gearing up to take over household waste and recycling collections in Leicester from February.

The company plans to replace the current green bag kerbside recycling scheme with a new box kerbside service.

Biffa Leicester’s community liason officer, Sonia Dhul explained: “A 55-litre recycling box will be provided to residents which will enable them to recycling glass, paper, magazines and plastic.”

She added that the kerbside service will not take cans because the ball mill will recover and recycle metals from mixed waste.

For 2002/03, the Leicester’s recycling rate was 11.6%, below the national average, and as part of the contract the city and Biffa now have a 2005 recycling target of 40%.

Ms Dhul said that with the new waste infrastructure being put into place and support from Leicester residents, Biffa is confident it can meet the recycling targets.