Princess Anne to open Chineham energy from waste plant

The plant is the first of three Onyx EFW plants in the county, with construction underway on the other two sites in Southampton and Portsmouth.

The Princess Royal's visit will include a tour of the energy from waste plant – described as “world class” by Onyx – and she will meet those involved in the project.

Onyx chief executive Cyrille du Peloux said: ““We are delighted that HRH The Princess Royal has kindly agreed to open the first of Onyx’s ERFs in Hampshire. This is a true milestone in an infrastructure project that will maintain the county at the forefront of integrated waste management.”

The Chineham incinerator was the setting for a Greenpeace protest in 2002

The plant, which was occupied by protestors last year (see letsrecycle.com story), is a key part of the Onyx integrated waste strategy for Hampshire. A Buckingham Palace press aide for the Princess Royal told letsrecycle.com today that no information was available about the Princess's view on energy from waste and recycling. The aide emphasised that the decision by the Princess to open the plant had been taken “on the advice of the Lord Lieutenant for Hampshire”.

Environmental pressure group Greenpeace, which organised last year's protests, is understood to be aware of the visit and some form of demonstration may take place on Friday. Onyx itself is thought to consider that any such protests are unjust because the company has been seeking to drive up recycling rates in the county for many years and that landfill is in short supply.

The Princess Royal will see first hand how the plant is operated. Following the visitor’s route she will watch waste being deposited into the furnace.

Onyx explained today that the Chineham ERF will process “approximately 90,000 tonnes of non-recyclable waste each year – saving significant amounts of rapidly diminishing landfill space – and generating around 8MWs of electricity for the national grid, enough to power more than 8,000 local homes.”