Capable of sorting cans, plastic, paper, cardboard and glass, the 4 million council-run operation aims to encourage more residents to recycle by removing the need to sort materials at home.
 Featuring sorting technology from dutch firm Bollegraaf, Cardiff's new sorting plant can process 60,000 tonnes of recyclable material each year |
Based at Lamby Way, Rumney, the plant will help the council to roll out kerbside collections for the entire city, processing up to 60,000 tonnes of collected waste every year.
Ian Taylor, recycling officer in Cardiff, told letsrecycle.com: “It's the only plant in the UK and possibly Europe to deal with such a wide range of recyclable materials in one process. The company who supplied the machinery are even inviting people from other countries to have a look.”
The plant, which officially opens on June 8th, combines Dutch technology from Bollegraaf with manual sorting to process up to 18 tonnes of waste an hour.
Easier
Mr Taylor said: “We are trying to encourage people to recycle as much as possible by making it easier for them. The plant sorts waste that people might otherwise have to sort themselves.
“So far it has been a success. It has also enabled us to roll out our recycling scheme to every household in Cardiff,” he said.
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Collecting co-mingled materials has become increasingly popular in urban part of the UK, where meeting recycling targets while considering issues like heavy traffic and a limited space for the storage of separate containers.
Cllr Elgan Morgan, Cardiff's executive member for the environment, said: “The new recycling plant will help Cardiff to meet the challenging recycling targets for 2009/10 set by the Welsh Assembly.”
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