The new plant, which will be built on the Crown Farm Industrial Estate, Mansfield, will form an integral part of a 25-year waste management contract to be awarded to one of five shortlisted companies some time in the summer of 2003.
Nottinghamshire is the fifth highest waste generating authority out of 34 counties in the UK, producing 570kg of material per householder. The county currently recycles about 14% of its waste, and has a statutory recycling target of 27% to meet by 2005-06.
The new facility, which was granted planning permission at a meeting of the Planning Committee last week, will provide a sorting for dry recyclables including paper, textiles, plastic, steel, aluminium and plastic bottles. Serving the towns of Mansfield, Ashfield and Bassetlaw, the new MRF will be built and run by the waste management firm that is awarded the county's 25-year contract.
Critical
The need for sorting facilities is being seen as critical by many local authorities as new kerbside recycling services come online. Lessons are being learned from the Hampshire waste partnership, Project Integra, which has been forced to landfill some of its recyclables because of a lack of sorting provision (see letsrecycle.com story).
And Nottinghamshire county council's member for the environment, Terry Butler, said that putting money into twin-bin schemes and into household waste recycling centres was not the only thing for local authorities to worry about.
He said: “It's not enough for people to recycle more – we need the facilities to be able to cope with the increase and help us meet tough government targets.”
The new MRF is expected to open in early 2005, and capacity could rise to 100,000 tonnes a year by moving to a double shift system.
The council has said that it expects its Landfill Tax bill to soar from the current 4 million a year to over 10 million by 2010. But council figures show that three of its six landfill sites – at Sutton, Barnstone and Bilsthorpe – will be at full capacity by 2007.
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