The company said it intends to submit a planning application this month (January 2004) to Somerset county council to move the composting plant to a location more than 250 metres away from nearby houses.
The new facility would operate undercover and use in-vessel composting technology, enabling the site to take organic waste in addition to the garden green waste it already processes into a soil conditioning compost.
Andy Olie, managing director at Wyvern, explained: “People living near the site have been talking to us about odour coming from the compost of late. We hope this scheme will put an end to that problem once and for all.”
The relocation of the composting facility forms the second part of changes being made to the Priorswood site. Wyvern has already submitted proposals to the county council to move the existing household waste recycling centre closer to the railway and improve access to the site for residents. On the advice of planners, more trees will be planted by the company to help screen the site.
Andy Olie said: “This is a very busy site which needs to be developed and improved as the demand for recycling increases. We think these plans offer a facility which will take us into the 21st century.”
Priorswood is one of 17 household waste recycling centres operated by Wyvern for Somerset council under a 20 million five-year contract signed last year (see letsrecycle.com story).
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