The materials recycling facility (MRF) was opened by television presenter Michaela Strachan on Friday at an event also attended by district council chairman Bridget Lewis and Grundon's managing director Richard Skehens.
 Michaela Strachan, Chairman of Mole Valley Bridgette Lewis and chairman of Grundon, Norman Grundon unveiling the new MRF |
The MRF was built by a partnership consisting of Grundon and Mole Valley Recycling, with Mole Valley paying out 1.8 million for the building and 2.2 million being paid by Grundon for the installation of the equipment.
Mole Valley claim that this is the first time a materials recycling facility (MRF) has been jointly built by a council and a private company.
Mr Skehens said: “Mole Valley is one of the first councils that I have come across that have made a decision like this and then followed right through with it. Not many councils have the guts to do that, Mole Valley knows what it has to do and it knows what it needs to do to achieve that.”
Capacity
The plant currently has the capacity to recycle 40,000 tonnes per year, sorting paper, cans, card and plastic from commingled collections in Mole Valley council. The MRF could also be important in taking materials from other local authorities in Surrey, particularly while a shortage of MRF capacity exists in the South East of England.
Richard Cawley, project manager for Grundon said that the company had already signed up other local authorities in Surrey and expected the MRF to reach capacity in the next few months. The site could increase its capacity if demand is there by running on double shifts or on a 24 hour basis.
Materials sorted at the plant are destined for reprocessors in the UK, Grundon said, stating that the company is not intending to export materials.
Kerbside
The MRF has been built to take waste from the council's new kerbside collection scheme, the second phase of which was also launched this week. The final rollout will be launched in May, with 38,000 households in the district offered the fortnightly commingled collections. The scheme follows a 12-month trial run in Leatherhead, Dorking and Box Hill.
Speaking at the opening Tony Moore, chairman of the recycling committee at Mole Valley, said that the new scheme had already seen fantastic results. “We have been recycling 14%, but early indications show that through this scheme we will be recycling 35% and we believe we could even reach 40%, he said.”
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When cutting the ribbon, Ms Strachan said: “I am delighted to be included in anything to do with recycling. We can't keep filling landfill sites, it has taken a long time get this far and I am glad that Mole Valley are taking things seriously.”
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