Subject to final legal agreements under the Town and Country Planning Act, Cory Environmental will build the MRF at Smugglers Way to help boost recycling levels as part of its long-term contract with the Western Riverside Waste Authority.
Recyclables collected from households in the WRWA’s four constituent London boroughs – Hammersmith and Fulham, Lambeth, Wandsworth, and Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea – will be brought to the facility for sorting before going to reprocessors.
 An artist's impression of how the new MRF will look at Smugglers Way |
The facility is to be built on land to the south of the Western Riverside Waste Transfer Station in Smugglers Way. The company is to use the site's riverside access to transport materials on the River Thames to reprocessors.
All activities which currently take place in the open air, including the recycling of paper, cardboard, glass bottles, cans and plastics, will be housed inside the new building. Cory will also erect an acoustic screen on the site's eastern access ramp.
The planning resolution has been more than a year in the making, with Cory submitting the proposal in late 2003.
Decision
Wandsworth's planning applications chairman, Cllr Ravi Govindia, said: “This was an immensely difficult decision for the committee. Councillors recognised both the need for the facility and the difficulties this could cause neighbouring residents.
” The decision was not about meeting recycling targets – however desirable this aim might be. The application was judged on planning grounds and its suitability for the area.“
– Cllr Ravi Govindia, Wandsworth council
“The decision was not about meeting recycling targets – however desirable this aim might be. The application was judged on planning grounds and its suitability for the area. On balance members felt there were sufficient controls in place to reduce noise from the whole site and limit the impact of the extra heavy goods traffic.
“However the operator will now have to come forward with acceptable plans for partially enclosing the civic amenity site. It is important that the development proceeds cautiously and is set in the context of the operation of the whole site.”
Resolution
As part of the resolution, the council has limited Cory to processing 84,000 tonnes at the new MRF each year, and the site's existing waste transfer station has been limited to processing 750,000 tonnes of material a year. Cory will also upgrade the civic amenity site at Smugglers Way.
John Boldon, Cory’s director of planning said: “This is great news for London and the residents in the WRWA area. The extra capacity for recycling will be vital for managing the recyclable material produced and collected in the area every year and help to increase the 15% recycling rate achieved in the WRWA in 2003/4.”
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Cory said it will now discuss with Wandsworth and the Western Riverside Waste Authority the timescale for the construction and opening of the new MRF.
Currently the four boroughs of Lambeth, Hammersmith and Fulham, Kensington and Chelsea and Wandsworth collectively recycle 18 percent of their household waste. Under the government's recycling targets for local authorities, the Western Riverside Waste Authority must recycle 24% of household waste by 2005/06.
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