The 3 million Vertical Composting Unit will be capable of composting up to 20,000 tonnes of garden and food waste collected from households on Merseyside each year.
It is hoped the new plant could be up and running by Summer 2006.
” We're already working with Liverpool city council and other districts to develop their kerbside green and kitchen waste collections.“
– Cllr John Fletcher, MWDA
Technology for the plant is being provided by VCU Europa based on a New Zealand-made system that composts organic material in vertical chambers. Waste material is added at the top of the chambers, with composted product removed at the bottom.
The Liverpool plant will have 14 chambers, processing material in two stages over eight days before a four-week maturation period. The plant is designed to meet the demands of the Animal By-Product regulations.
Once built, the plant will allow five Merseyside councils to carry out trial food waste collections, helping to improve the current 13.5% recycling rate for the region.
The chair of the Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority chair, Cllr John Fletcher, said: “This is fantastic news for Liverpool and the whole of Merseyside. We're already working with Liverpool city council and other districts to develop their kerbside green and kitchen waste collections.
“The in-vessel composter gives us a facility to convert the green waste collected into something useful,” Cllr Fletcher added.
Partly funded by a Defra grant, the Gillmoss facility will be the sister plant of another VCU facility run for the Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority at Bidston. Planning permission for the Bidston plant was gained in September.
Tony Gledhill, chairman of VCU Europa, said: “This proves our ability to create large-scale capacity waste sites in the UK, using the VCU system and our expertise in design, construction and planning to ensure success.”
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