3m green and food waste facility opens in Buckinghamshire

The plant at High Heavens waste site, was officially opened last week and has been built using a 3 million fund from Defra. This money has also been used to purchase 12,000 green wheeled bins for use in the area.

The green waste going into the system will come from Wycombe District Council's household recycling centres and the kitchen waste will come from the Council's new kitchen waste kerbside collection scheme which starts later this month.

The green waste was previously treated in several windrow systems in the district, including one owned by Shanks.

Terra EcoSystems, who have designed the new system, recycle biosolids for use on agricultural land, land remediation and horticultural use. The processed waste at High Heavens will initially be turned into organic agricultural fertiliser, to be used by local farmers as a soil improver, but it is hoped that, in time, locals will be able to use the product on their gardens.

“We are making varying types of compost,” said Martin Dickman, Waste Manager at Buckinghamshire. “It won't be for residents to use at home in the early stages but it is our intention to make the product suitable for this.”

The system works by receiving waste via the retractable door and roof. Waste will then be treated and filtered with air in 10 separate containers, inside one building. The 10 containers will take a total of 15,000 tonnes of waste, but the council has received planning permission to install another 12 containers, thus bringing its annual tonnage to 25-30,000.

All kitchen waste will be shredded and broken up by water jets in a separate building on-site before being transferred to the in-vessel system.

Buckinghamshire also runs a home composting scheme which it is currently promoting. Over 40,000 composting bins have been distributed throughout the county over the last five years, but Mr Dickman said the council believes the new facility will complement the home composting promotion.

The new system will take waste from people who have more green waste than they can compost at home and also kitchen waste from residents who do not have a garden, he said.