The project to build and operate the new facility is being overseen by Sherbourne Recycling Ltd, a company which has been established by and is wholly owned by eight partner councils.
Construction of the MRF has been underway since May 2021 and the MRF has been described by the councils involved as “world leading.”
The MRF is to feature integrated artificial intelligence, including several sorting robots and optical sorters provided by Machinex (see letsrecycle.com story). Vehicle manufacturer Linde Material Handling has supplied Sherbourne Recycling with five X20-X35 electric forklifts.
Technology start-up SortFlow has signed a deal with Sherbourne to develop software which makes the process of recording input and output samples “faster and more reliable” (see letsrecycle.com story).
Richard Dobbs, managing director of Sherbourne Recycling added: “Creating these facilities allows our partners to acquire a state-of-the-art treatment unit to offer a sustainable solution for recyclable household waste produced in the region.”
The eight councils behind the MRF are: Coventry city council, North Warwickshire borough council, Nuneaton and Bedworth borough council, Rugby borough council, Stratford district council, Solihull Metropolitan borough council, Walsall council and Warwick district council.
Costs
The project was first mooted in 2019 when a report went before Coventry city council which said £584,000 could be saved annually by taking the recycling sorting work in-house.
Loan funding was sort to fund the development of the facility, but costs did rise last year by 4.9% to £65.2 million.
Despite this, Warwick district council’s portfolio holder for neighbourhood services, Councillor Moira-Ann Grainger, said the facility will be a “game-changer”.
“It will give us the ability to greatly improve our recycling rates and the range of materials we can collect from the kerbside that would previously have gone to landfill.”
The site is expected to be fully operational by Summer 2023.
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