The site for the SWERF lies within the constituency of Margaret Beckett, the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Mrs Beckett has in the past endorsed the idea of new recycling technologies as well as the use of combined heat and power plants (CHP).
Derby City Council gave planning permission for the plant in February, but the final decision lay with the Government Office for East Midlands. The Government Office has now given its approval for the SWERF plant, which operates not as an energy from waste plant in the traditional sense but instead burns waste “in a sealed tube”. The plant will be built at Sinfin Lane, Osmaston, Derby.
Brightstar Environmental will now apply to the Environment Agency for an IPPC licence. But as there is currently only one SWERF up and running in Wollongong, Australia, Brightstar is awaiting emissions results from Australia before it has all the data needed for the application.
Electricity
In a solid waste and energy recovery facility (SWERF), metals, glass and plastics are recovered from the waste stream for recycling. The remaining non-recyclable material is treated using advanced thermal technology known as gasification to produce a gas which is used to generate electricity.
Brightstar has a contract with Derby City Council – a unitary authority – to process 50,000 tonnes of waste and although the proposed facility will initially process 50,000 tonnes of waste each year, the capacity of the plant can be expanded.
Peter Cumberlidge, general manager of Brightstar Environmental, said: “The decision is a very important step in the development of our SWERF technology in the United Kingdom. The SWERF process meets the demands of modern waste management, which calls for the diversion of waste from landfill and the maximisation of resource recovery wherever possible.” Mr Cumberlidge explained that he hopes the plant will be up and running towards the end of 2003, but that construction would get underway this year as building works could start before an operating licence is granted.
Incinerator?
There has been some opposition to the plant from the local Friends of the Earth group, which has called the swerf a “new incinerator”. Friends of the Earth says that the facility would recycle only a fifth of the waste it receives, which would therefore “waste recyclable resources such as newspapers, plastics and kitchen waste”. And an opposition group has been set up in Derby, called “Swerve the SWERF – it’s no good for the Earth.”
Claire Wilton, incinerator campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said: “The SWERF is just incineration by another name. Just like incineration it is polluting, wasteful and deeply unpopular. It’s not the only option. Local people should be given quality kerbside recycling collections and large-scale composting schemes instead.”
But Brightstar said that the planning application included a detailed Environmental Impact Assessment report that addressed the issues raised by local residents and the regulating authorities and showed that the plant will not have a major negative impact on the environment.
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