In operation since 1992, the site has taken more than five million tonnes of residual waste from the surrounding area, including local authorities such as Bristol city council and South Gloucestershire council.
The 42-hectare site received up to 350,000 tonnes of waste per year, which filled specially-engineered cells as deep as 35 metres in places.
However, Calne landfill is now entering the aftercare phase, which will see the site restored to a variety of land uses, including woodland, grassland and an apple orchard.
Director of landfill energy at Viridor, Ian Morrish, said: “With the way we view waste in the UK changing so dramatically from a problem to a valuable resource, landfill sites are now closing across the country. Resource management in the UK is now anchored around recycling as much as possible and then recovering energy from what remains.
“With the way we view waste in the UK changing so dramatically from a problem to a valuable resource, landfill sites are now closing across the country.”
Ian Morrish
Director of landfill energy at Viridor
“Calne has been an integral site to our South West operations over the last two decades and now that it is shut, we are able to focus fully on the aftercare programme, although some wildlife is not waiting for us to finish, with many deer already making the site their home.”
Viridor said it is reducing its number of operational landfills down from around 18 to just three strategic sites, with a series of landfills entering the restoration phase this year.
In October 2015, the firm completed the sale of its restored former landfill site at Whitehead near the Wigan/Salford border to commercial property developer NPL Group (see letsrecycle.com story).
Communities fund
Also commenting on the Calne site closure, John Lockwood, chief executive of Viridor Credits Environmental Company, added: “Over the lifetime of the site, Viridor Credits has been able to support a number of projects in the local area from Viridor’s contribution to the Landfill Communities Fund.
“Over £1.38 million of Landfill Communities Fund monies has helped to transform a range of facilities from additional football pitches at the Beversbrook Sports and Community Facility to the installation of interpretation boards at the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust’s Blackmoor Copse and Vincent’s Wood along with a wide range of other community, heritage and biodiversity projects.”
Waste and recycling firm Viridor is currently undertaking a consolidation of its UK recycling facilities in a bid to make more “effective” use of its assets – a process which has recently seen the departure of two senior staff members (see letsrecycle.com story).
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