A report to go before the council’s planning committee on Friday (26 January) recommends that the council approve proposals submitted by Archers Fields Energy Recovery Ltd, a company within the Whitehair Group which also incorporates Clearaway Recycling Ltd and Waste-A-Way Recycling Ltd.
The construction phase will take approximately 24 months once it begins.
The facility’s feedstock, according to the application, will comprise up to 150,000 tonnes per annum of non-hazardous residual waste materials, which are left over after recycling at Clearaway Recycling’s site on the Burnt Mills Industrial estate, Basildon.
The proposed site above is Clearaway’s Basildon facility on the Burnt Mills Industrial estate
It added that currently, these materials are taken to landfill each day, but under the proposals, the left-over materials would be sorted and shredded, with non-combustible fuel types removed, before it is transported to the EfW plant.
The proposed facility will generate 11MW of energy. The company highlighted that this energy can be supplied to local businesses through power purchase agreements or exported to the grid to reinforce local and national electricity supplies.
Heat
The proposed development will comprise one building in two clear parts. The western part will be for fuel reception and storage, whilst the separate eastern part will host the energy generation plants.
The facility will also be enabled to provide heat to local businesses and the potential for the heat to be used in the manufacture of construction block products using ash from the facility at an adjacent site is being “actively pursued”.
The company is proposing to build the facility near the current Clearaway site in Basildon, which is currently used for the storage and maintenance of Waste-A-Way vehicles and equipment. The site was hit by a fire last week (see letsrecycle.com story).
According to the proposal the application seeks a structure up to 22 metres high with stacks a maximum of 50 metres high which will be divided into two sections.
‘Economic growth’
Paul Whitehair, managing director of Clearaway and leader of this project said: “This scheme has been in the pipeline for five years now and we are very excited finally to have reached this stage in its development. This facility will provide a high recycling and energy recovery solution for local waste, in the main arising from businesses and skip firms.
“Too much waste in south Essex still ends up in landfill. Unlike most energy facilities, we will use a pre-treatment recycling stage to ensure that resources are optimised. Our proposal will reduce vehicle movements in the area, and provide a sustainable source of heat and power, which will, in turn, enable further economic growth for Basildon.”
Approval
The conclusion section of the report outlines that the proposed EFW facility is “seen as offering a waste recovery facility enabling heat and power off take that would other be lost if the wate were continued to be delivered to landfill”.
The report goes on to say: “The ability of the applicant’s site to utilise a known residual waste tonnage also provides comfort that the facility does not result in diversion of what could otherwise be potentially recoverable waste and so reducing the potential for recycling on the wider waste stream.”
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