Mercia Waste Management, part of the Spanish-owned Severn Waste Services group, expects to start construction this autumn on the MRF at an industrial estate in Norton, a few miles to the south west of Worcester.
Commissioning of the new plant is scheduled for early 2009. The MRF is expected to process around 30,000 tonnes a year initially and build up to 105,000 tonnes as kerbside collections improve and expand across the two counties.
The MRF will be part of Mercia's 25-year waste disposal contract with Worcestershire county council and Herefordshire Councils, which began in 1998. The new facility will boost recycling capacity beyond the existing MRFs at Hill and Moor, Worcestershire, and in Rotherwas, Herefordshire.
Worcestershire County Council granted planning permission at a special meeting of its planning and regulatory committee on June 13.
Opposition
The application had been deferred four times because of the amount of information that needed to be gathered and it was opposed by some sectors of the community.
Neighbouring authorities including Wychavon district council and St Peter the Great county parish council raised concerns about heavy traffic and the lack of adequate transport infrastructure in the area.
In response, Merica has agreed to measures which will control the movement of HGVs approaching and leaving the plant, in an effort to deter rat-running through nearby villages.
The J7 Action Group, a campaign group opposed to the plant, was also worried about traffic congestion and health risks from air-borne bacteria.
Councillor Nigel Knowles, who sits on the planning committee, said the decision hot not been taken lightly: “This was an important decision for the county council to make, as it pursues our policy of recycling and moving towards achieving a carbon neutral county.
“Officers and committee members were presented with a vast amount of information in conjunction with this application and were still receiving detailed submissions right up until the meeting, all of which were taken into consideration.
“We play a fundamental role in delivering sustainable waste management and believe the site will help us to further strive to reduce the amount of waste taken to landfill,” Cllr Knowles added.
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