Waste management firm Viridor is set to open up its Ford materials recycling facility for a BBC programme looking into the technology and operations used at the plant.
The West Sussex facility will be featured on BBC One at 7.30pm on Monday May 2 as part of the popular science magazine show Bang Goes the Theory, which sets out to explore and test scientific theories in practical environments.
Presenter Jem Stansfield will look at the sorting and separating technology used by Viridor at the Ford materials recycling facility (MRF), which is capable of sorting 100,000 tonnes of material each year into 13 different material streams ready for reprocessing or resale.
Councillor Deborah Urquhart, cabinet member for environment and economy at West Sussex county council, said: Ford MRF is the vital hub facility enabling West Sussex county council and our district and borough council partners to achieve high levels of recycling by offering householders easy, convenient and cost-effective recycling services.
Effective communications and education are also important and we are pleased that Bang Goes the Theory will show technology behind the MRF to a primetime audience.
Ford
Viridor opened the 15 million Ford plant in July 2009. It was developed as the flagship sorting facility under the Taunton-based companys 25-year household waste recycling contract with West Sussex county council, which is signed in March 2004 (see letsrecycle.com story).
Jen Hake, Viridors education officer at the Ford MRF, said: If youre into recycling, then watch this programme. The BBC production team will present a recycling plant in a way youve never seen before.
Along with our local authority partners we are proud of our operations at the Ford MRF and its ability to transform thousands of tonnes of recycling, collected via a simple mixed collection system across the county, into high quality materials that can be used to make new products, she added.
The appearance on Bang Goes the Theory marks the second time in the past 12 months that Viridor has opened up its operations to the mainstream media.
In August 2010, Viridor chief executive Colin Drummond took part in the Channel Four series Undercover Boss, in which Mr Drummond posed as an out-of-work office worker who took on a variety of roles at the waste management company (see letsrecycle.com story).
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