The centre, which has been developed on a brownfield site in Bootle, has the capacity to handle 18,000 tonnes of paper, card, textiles, cans, glass and engine oil a year.
 Cllr John Fletcher (left), chairman of the MWDA, with Cllr David Tattersall of Sefton council at the launch of the recycling centre |
The site is currently working under a waste management licence exemption but is hoping to achieve its full license before Christmas. Under a full licence the site would also take green waste, soil, building waste, scrap metal, white goods and batteries.
Serving up to 100 customers an hour, the facility will act as a handling and transfer station for recyclables before they are taken to the appropriate recycler. Abitibi-Consolidated Recycling Europe will take the paper and Glass Recycling UK in South Yorkshire will take the glass.
Plastics are not currently accepted at the facility but Paul Taylor, who manages all four sites for Mersey Waste Holdings – a wholly owned subsidiary of Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority – said the company is in discussion with JFC Delleve Plastic about taking them.
A possible contract between the two companies would involve Delleve recycling plastic delivered to the Sefton centre at its new facility in St Helen's, Merseyside.
Bulky items
The new centre will also be used for the reuse or recycling of materials through Sefton council's free bulky item collection service. At present, the council says it deals with around 200 calls a day for these items ranging from furniture to green waste.
Sefton currently has three recycling centres: one in Southport, one is Formby, and the largest in Sefton Meadows, which currently handles around 35,000 tonnes of recyclables a year.
Mr Taylor explained: “Once a recycling centre is taking more than 20,000 tonnes it is getting to saturation point. Sefton Meadows is one of the biggest recycling centres in the country but we needed more capacity in Sefton.”
Sefton is currently recycling around 16% of its household waste and has a target of 19.1% to reach by April 2005.
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