The investment will create a MRF which is described by the company as the most modern in Europe because of the advanced nature of the equipment and the way it is configured.
The plant will be used by Norfolk Environmental Waste Services, Norfolk county council's waste company, to sort the recyclable material collected from the kerbside by five local district councils.
Breckland, Broadland, North Norfolk, Norwich and South Norfolk councils are currently rolling out kerbside collections for paper, card, steel and aluminium cans and plastic bottles. They join King's Lynn and West Norfolk borough council which already collects dry recyclables
David Beadle, managing director of Norfolk Environmental Waste Services said: “We have worked very closely with the councils to deliver this groundbreaking facility. This has been a unique example of co-operation by five forward-thinking councils in Norfolk.”
Substantial investment
The extension means the MRF will have an annual capacity of 85,000 tonnes to handle co-mingled paper, cardboard, cans and plastic bottles from the councils' kerbside and commercial collections. However, the company has not ruled out further expansions at the site if the supporting tonnage becomes available.
Mr Beadle said: “It is a substantial investment of over 6m by NEWS which will put Norfolk amongst the leading counties in waste recycling. The completed MRF will provide sufficient capacity to process the dry recyclable waste collected in Norfolk and help to achieve government and EU targets for the reduction in waste going to landfill.”
The machinery has been supplied by several UK and American specialists. Central to the expansion is the installation of the first V-Screen in Europe, which uses blowers, magnets and infrared signatures to separate the materials.
The V-Screen is supplied by CP Manufacturing of San Diego, California. Balers and steelwork are by Ken Mills of Rochdale and the project manager is PPS Recovery Systems of Peterborough.
Norfolk Environmental Waste Services expects to create 40 new jobs when the new facility becomes operational.
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