The project to build and operate the new facility is being overseen by Sherbourne Recycling Ltd, a company which has been established by and is wholly owned by the eight partner councils.
Construction of the MRF has been underway since May 2021 and the MRF has been described by the councils involved as “world leading”. Sherbourne Recycling applied for an environmental permit last month (see letsrecycle.com story).
The facility will be capable of processing 175,000 tonnes of dry mixed recycling collected from kerbside collections each year, and will be able to recycle a wider range of materials.
Nuneaton
Earlier this week, Nuneaton and Bedworth, one of the partner authorities, said the facility will be online this summer.
The authority declared the new facility “will set a precedent for sustainable recycling standards and practices internationally”.
This means residents in the area will be able to switch from twin-stream to commingled later this autumn, the council said.
‘Great news’
Cllr Sue Markham, Nuneaton’s portfolio holder for public service said: “It is great news for Borough residents and our environment. When the Council’s recycling service is set up to provide this provision in early autumn, residents will be able to use one bin for all their recyclable materials. This will hopefully mean that it’s much easier for people – no separating of materials and no need for the paper and card caddy.
“We will let residents know when we are able to accept recycling materials in one bin. Please do not start doing so until notified. The fantastic technology incorporated into the site will help us reduce costs and allow a much greater amount of material to be recycled across the West Midlands. The build will also bring job opportunities to the region; I very much look forward to seeing the facility up and running.”
Machinery
The MRF is fully automated being constructed “specifically for the site to maximise the rate of recycling”. It will be operational 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with the exception of Christmas Day, Boxing Day and Easter Sunday.
The MRF is to feature integrated artificial intelligence, including several sorting robots and optical sorters provided by Machinex. Vehicle manufacturer Linde Material Handling has supplied Sherbourne Recycling with five X20-X35 electric forklifts.
Ian Smith, business development manager for Machinex, which supplied machinery to the plant, said: “Sherbourne Resource Park brings together many different existing technologies and approaches in one package. It will be one of the first facilities in the world that has been designed around AI in combination with traditional sorting equipment at this scale.”
“The Sherbourne Resource Park will be a big leap forward in many ways, when completed, the facility will become the benchmark for other MRFs both in the UK and beyond. For us at Machinex, we view this as our international showpiece. To put it simply, this MRF is the future.”
The eight councils behind the MRF are: Coventry city council, North Warwickshire borough council, Nuneaton and Bedworth borough council, Rugby borough council, Stratford district council, Solihull Metropolitan borough council, Walsall council and Warwick district council.
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