SITA UK has today (July 16) announced plans to develop a facility to produce refuse derived fuel (RDF) and solid recovered fuel (SRF) at Tilbury Docks in Essex for export abroad and domestic use.
The announcement follows the firms acquisition of Tilbury-based industrial waste and recycling specialist Nordic Recycling for an undisclosed sum from Forth Ports Ltd under a share purchase agreement. The deal was revealed by letsrecycle.com on Monday (see letsrecycle.com story).
Forth Ports described as one of the UKs largest port groups owns the port of Tilbury on the River Thames, the closest port to London, and originally acquired the Nordic Group for 46 million in 2007.
As part of the acquisition, SITA has entered into a long-term partnership agreement with Forth Ports, which will see a multi-million pound investment in the Nordic Recycling site at Tilbury Dock.
SITA said the new facilities will have the capacity to produce over 500,000 tonnes of alternative fuels a year.
The site already includes 100,000 tonnes per year capacity materials recycling facility (MRF) and a recycling collection business, which have become part of SITA UKs wider operations.
Logistics
According to SITA, the Port of Tilbury and London Container Terminal site is a major logistics interchange and will provide the company with an opportunity to transport RDF, SRF and secondary raw materials both domestically and internationally by road, rail and sea.
‘By investing in new processing facilities at the port, we will not only create new jobs, but will also enable the south east to divert a significant amount of its waste material from landfill and put it to good use instead.’
David Palmer-Jones, SITA UK chief executive
David Palmer-Jones, chief executive of SITA UK, said: I am very pleased to welcome Nordic Recycling to SITA UK. We look forward to working with our new colleagues to further improve the efficiency of the materials recycling facility and to expand our recycling activities in the south east of England.
By investing in new processing facilities at the port, we will not only create new jobs, but will also enable the south east to divert a significant amount of its waste material from landfill and put it to good use instead.
SITA UK, a subsidiary of France-based Suez Environnement, currently supplies more than 350,000 tonnes of alternative fuels such as RDF and SRF to customers in mainland Europe each year.
Forth Ports
In addition, the Forth Ports-owned Port of Tilbury has awarded a 10-year contract to Nordic Recycling, subject to regular market testing, to provide waste management services at the dock.
Group chief Executive of Forth Ports Limited, Charles Hammond, added: This new long term partnership is a significant achievement for our business and we are delighted to be working with our multi-national customer, SITA UK.
The sale of Nordic Recycling will allow us to focus on our key port activities and SITA UKs expansion plans at the port play to our key strengths in the handling and distribution of general cargo and containers. Through our excellent Portcentric networks and logistics experience, we will play a significant part in the success of this partnership.
Subscribe for free