Waste management company FCC Environment has opened its 11 million materials recycling facility (MRF) at its Sutton Courtenay site in Oxfordshire, it announced yesterday (November 6).
Developed on FCCs existing landfill and composting site, the Sutton Courtenay MRF has the capacity to process 100,000 tonnes of waste per year.
The MRF will treat non-hazardous commercial and industrial waste collected from businesses in the county and separate out recyclable materials such as glass, paper, metals and plastics. It can also process source segregated materials in preparation for their recycling into new raw materials.
According to FCC, the residual fraction of material will be sent off site for energy recovery in the form of a refuse derived fuel (RDF).
Paul Dumpleton, head of regional development at FCC Environment, said: The business model for FCC Environment has been to develop modern waste processing infrastructure to ensure we can offer our business customers methods of extracting value from their waste and diverting as much material from landfill as possible.
The Sutton Courtenay MRF is the next piece in this infrastructure jigsaw and will enable us to provide top class services in the Oxfordshire area.
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Housed in a 4,500 square metre building alongside a further 7,000 square metres of external concrete hard-standing, FCC said the MRF would provide 38 jobs, bringing the total number of staff members at the site to around 55.
The Spanish-owned company had proposals to expand and extend operating hours at the Sutton Courtenay MRF beyond its original planning permission rejected by Oxfordshire county councils planning committee in September (see letsrecycle.com story).
A spokesman for FCC said that the company was still considering whether or not to appeal the county councils planning decision.
Under the current planning permission the landfill site at Sutton Courtenay is required to be completed by 2030, with full restoration by 2036. FCC Environment is committed to restoring the landfill to agricultural use once the landfill site closes.
The MRF building was constructed by Jones Brothers Civil Engineering UK with the internal MRF separation equipment being supplied by US MRF manufacturer CP Group.
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Jones Bros contracts manager Geraint Thomas, who oversaw the construction of the MRF facility, said: This is the first MRF facility weve built for FCC, and the latest project as part of a three-year framework contract covering southwest England. Were pleased to complete the work on schedule and on budget, continuing our strong working relationship with FCC.
The opening of the MRF follows FCCs success in September when it was awarded a contract to manage 14 household waste and recycling centres (HWRCs) on behalf of Staffordshire county council (see letsrecycle.com story).
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