Liverpool city council approves 20m recycling park

Liverpool city council planning committee yesterday (April 7) approved the proposal to develop the recycling park at Stonebridge Lane, Gillmoss, as part of the Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority's (MWDA) £3 billion plan to tackle household waste in the region.

The MWDA handles waste disposal on behalf of councils in Knowsley, Liverpool, St Helen's, Sefton and the Wirral councils.

The 22-acre Gillmoss park will include the creation of a 100,000 tonnes-a-year capacity MRF and a visitors' education centre.

The MRF would operated in a same way to the Authority's existing facility at Bidston and be used to sort mixed dry recyclable materials – including paper, cardboard, plastic bottles, cans and glass – collected from households through local council collection schemes.

Sorted materials would then be sent to third party processors off site for transformation into new products and raw materials.

And, when plans were first announced in September 2008, the MWDA claimed that the Gillmoss facility could eventually be used to treat organic waste in enclosed facilities (see letsrecycle.com story).

Councillor Kevin Cluskey, chairperson of the MWDA, said: “This facility is vital to the future success of council recycling services and waste disposal on Merseyside because it will enable us to process large quantities of recyclable waste and cut our very expensive reliance on landfill.”

“While it can only be part of the solution to Merseyside's needs, it will ultimately help save Council Tax payers' money and improve recycling rates at the same time,” he added.

The site will be operated by the successful bidder for the MWDA's waste management and recycling contract, currently being contested by waste management companies Veolia Environmental Services and SITA UK (see letsrecycle.com story).

The Authority claimed that more than 19,000 local people were targeted in autumn 2008 as part of an information exercise explaining the Gillmoss plan and it also held a series of open days to exhibit detailed proposals to residents.

However, local media has reported that there is a lot of anger among the local community over the chosen location of the site and claimed that Gillmoss was being treated as a “dumping ground” between Liverpool and Knowsley.

The MWDA hopes to start work on the new facilities by the summer 2009 and have the facility operational by 2010.