The club has been developing a 357 million new stadium at Ashburton Grove, close to its current stadium at Highbury, expected to open in the summer of 2005. But in order to construct the 60,000-seater venue, it has had to knock down the existing North London Waste Authority (NLWA) waste transfer station.
 Arsenal directors Ken Friar (left) and Danny Friszman (right) with Steve Hitchens, the leader of Islington borough council opening the new plant |
Because of this, Arsenal and its construction contractors Sir Robert McAlpine, have built a new 401,500 tonne capacity waste and recycling centre at nearby Hornsey Street, which was officially opened yesterday.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Arsenal director Danny Friszman said: “On behalf of Arsenal Football Club, I am pleased to hand over control of this new waste and recycling centre, which marks the completion of the first major step in our redevelopment programme. Now the waste and recycling centre has been successfully re-located from Ashburton Grove, the construction of our stadium can really begin in earnest.”
The Horney Street centre is licensed to process 275 tonnes of waste each hour – about 1,100 tonnes each working day. run by the NWLA's waste contractor LondonWaste, it will handle all the household waste collected from the borough of Islington, half the waste collected from the neighbouring borough of Camden and about 20% of the waste from Haringey.
Andrew Lappage, head of waste strategy and contracts at the NWLA, said: “This new Hornsey Street waste and recycling centre is an enormous step in our forward progress, taking all the waste from Islington and part of the waste from Camden and Haringey and should process up to 50,000 tonnes each year of recyclable waste.”
Centre stage
LondonWaste managing director David Sargent said the new centre marked a “proud day” for waste management, with recycling “moving to centre stage”. He said: “Recycling and waste management are important services that the community needs. This is especially true when the issue of landfill's impact on climate change is becoming so significant.”
The three-level centre includes a waste transfer station, using six compaction facilities as well as dust and odour control equipment, which will take in residual waste that will ultimately go to landfill or the Edmonton incinerator.
There are also bulking up recycling facilities for materials including glass, paper, cans and textiles as well as bulky items, which Mr Lappage said had the flexibility to take different recyclable fractions to allow for any changes in borough collection systems in future.
The centre also houses a civic amenity-style re-use and recycling centre, allowing householders to recycle materials and items they cannot recycle through kerbside or bring bank systems. The centre should recycle more than 50% of the 24,000 tonnes of waste it will receive each year, and also re-uses items such as furniture, working with the Kings Cross Furniture Project.
The Hornsey Street centre also includes facilities for the servicing and cleaning of waste handling vehicles by contractor ICSL Accord, and will see a new education centre opening in January 2005.
Subscribe for free