The plant, which is the fifth facility to be built in the UK by Cambridge Recycling Services (CRS), has been built to animal by-product regulation standards and has the capacity to process over 20,000 tonnes per annum of organic waste.
 The finishing touches being made to the new Heathfield in-vessel composting facility in Devon |
Under the Animal By-Product Regulations composted waste has to follow a one-way flow in order to avoid cross contamination. The Heathfield site features new “drive-through” composting tunnels, each with doors at either end, enabling waste to be loaded into one end and emptied at the other.
The tunnel also has a roof in order to provide an enclosed and controlled environment in which organic waste can be rapidly decomposed, the company said.
The Heathfield facility is taking municipal waste from Devon county council and once processed, the final product will be used in a major landfill restoration project.
Strategy
Annette Dentith, principal waste management officer for Devon county council, said: “Devon's municipal waste management strategy identifies proposals for a number of in-vessel composting plants and the Heathfield plant provided by CRS is the first.
“We are pleased with the performance of the plant and are optimistic that not only will the composting rates for the local authorities involved increase significantly, enabling statutory targets to be met and indeed exceeded, but that a useful product will be created for a variety of long term uses,” she added.
John Mullett, development director at CRS, said: “We were very pleased to be given the opportunity to design and build the Heathfield plant and see our new drive through tunnels in operation.
Letsrecycle.com is holding a special conference on animal by-products and food waste on September 28. For more details see the letsrecycle.com events page
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