New MBT waste recovery plant opens in Newcastle

Official opening: Newcastle sheriff Peter Arnold with his wife, cuts the ribbon with SITA’s Peter Gillatt (left)

Cllr Peter Arnold, city sheriff, cut the ribbon to mark the opening and said: “This facility had a controversial history in the past. It is now a symbol of what Newcastle is trying to do – and that is recycling. We believe that this facility is now an important asset for the region.”

Peter Gillatt, chief operating officer of SITA UK which operates the plant under a long-term contract with the city council, said: “The foresight of Newcastle which has helped us to develop the MBT plant here and composting at Ellington has given the city a headstart with landfill diversion. This is a partnership and we hope to continue to work closely together.”

Process
At Byker, SITA is now operating an MBT – mechanical biological treatment – process which sees black sack waste shredded, passed through a trommel and magnetic separation with the organic content separated from residual waste. Dry recyclables are separately collected and sorted by SITA for the city council.

The organic component of the waste is sent to a SITA composting site at Ellington in Northumberland for further treatment and milling to produce a grey compost which is to be used on non-food crop or non-grazing land.

Sorting: Organic material from black sack waste is separated using shredders and a trommel and is collected for transporting to a composting site at Ellington, Northumberland

The plant can handle 120,000 tonnes of waste from the city each year. Previously this was all sent to landfill and now about 40% will be recovered either through recycling or via the organic process.

Residue
A decision on whether other options than landfill can be applied to the 60% sent to landfill is likely to be made in about two year’s time. This will follow completion of a large-scale public consultation exercise now underway, which comes ahead of work by the city council on a new waste strategy.

In the interim, the city says that the MBT facility will let it meet its first landfill diversion targets under the landfill allowances trading scheme.