The contract award for the 1 million project, from Viridor Waste Management, effectively spells the end of “dirty” MRFs in England. The Masons MRF has faced some operational problems and also has a chequered history. Other dirty MRF operations in the UK are thought generally to be recovering low volumes of material and are often just sorting lines to take a few materials out of “black sack waste”.
With the refit Viridor is aiming to collect materials to “generate top quality secondary resources to be re-used to make new products”. The plant will have the capacity to handle over 40,000 tonnes of recyclables per annum on a single shift, giving a significant increase to the current recycling rate of 25%. And, the MRF will also have a new education centre for school visits.
Consortium
Viridor has overall responsibility for the MRF under a 10 year contract it signed earlier this year with Suffolk district and borough councils as a consortium of waste collection authorities.
Paul Simon, spokesman for Babergh district council and the Suffolk consortium said that the refitted MRF would prove very useful to the authorities. “Virtually all of the local authorities in the consortium have been helped by various grants from Defra to start separate dry recyclate collections. In Babergh, for example, we now have a fortnightly collection of dry recyclate which alternates with residual waste.”
Grosvenor already operates its own MRF at Crayford in Kent and sells large volumes of recyclables. In particular the company is a major recycler of recovered paper, handling about 4,000 tonnes per week at the Crayford site.
The company's experience in developing and operating the MRF at Crayford, which has had investment worth 5 million, is thought to have been a key factor in its selection for the Viridor contract. Crayford, which is currently seeing a further upgrade with the installation of a second comingled line, has been supported by London Remade. The market development organisation provided support of 440,000 for training and improved paper sorting, using an optical sorter. (see letsrecycle.com story)
Materials
Mary Corin, Grosvenor's director of recycling development, said the company was very pleased to be carrying out the Masons work. “We have been chosen as the contractor for the job in light of our proven skills in handling the materials. Because we move the end products from a MRF we know the end specifications that are required.”
Ms Corin explained that the contract involved almost completely rebuilding the existing Masons facility. The work will be carried out by a Grosvenor project team which be purchasing a range of technologies. The main subcontractor is CD Engineering of Telford.
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