We are already in discussions with other end-users and are confident that other outlets will be found for this fuel
Alan Pardoe, Hills Group
The county council awarded planning permission last week (March 18) for Hills to develop the 45,000 tonne-a-year capacity plant, which will be known as the Northacre Recovery Centre, as part of its contract to dispose of Wiltshire's residual household waste.
Hills also intends to build a £1 million household waste and recycling centre at the Stephenson Road site in Westbury.
Speaking after the approval, Alan Pardoe, chairman of Hills Group, said: “We are delighted by today's decision. This plant is a key element of Wiltshire's overall war on waste and means that we can look forward to the day when at least 85 per cent of the county's waste can be diverted from landfill. It adds up to a much more sustainable future.”
SRF
Originally, Hills had planned to send 30,000 tonnes of solid recovered fuel (SRF) generated by the proposed plant to be used in a cement kiln run by Lafarge Aggregates in Westbury before Lafarge was forced to mothball the operation due to the effect the economic downturn had on the construction market (see letsrecycle.com story). However, the firm said it was now in talks to send the fuel elsewhere.
Mr Pardoe said: “Fuels of this type that reduce both waste and CO2 have a big future in the UK. We are already in discussions with other end-users and are confident that other outlets will be found for this fuel.”
A spokeswoman for Wiltshire county council confirmed that contract negotiations for the SRF were underway.
Issues
Hills Group originally held public consultations on its MBT plans in early 2007 with the aim of getting the plant up-and-running in 2009, but issues in the planning application surrounding the design and environmental output have meant that this has now been revised to 2011.
Before granting the planning permission, the council agreed that Hills had demonstrated that the plant posed no air quality threat to its neighbours in the community or to other businesses and that has been confirmed by the Environment Agency and environmental health experts.
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