Plant to digest chunk of landfill bill

Jun 17 2009 by Kelley Price, Evening Gazette

A MULTI million pound kerbside recycling system will help slash Darlington’s household waste to landfill bill.

Newton Aycliffe company John Wade is building an aerobic digestion plant at a cost of almost £4m for its main clients Darlington Council.

The system captures black bag waste previously destined for landfill - but the partners have urged householders not to let recycling habits slip, as Recycling Week approaches on Monday.

“If we can get everybody separating 100% of their waste correctly we’d be over the moon,” said John Wade operations director, Bruce Whitley. “Kerbside recycling represents only half of what’s out there.”

Separated glass and paper will be collected at kerbside as normal, with a new service for cardboard. Any recyclate that slips through the net will be removed from black rubbish bags manually or by magnet. Waste is fed into the 50 tonne-capacity Mechanical Biological Treatment (MBT) plant, which speeds up organic breakdown of matter.

Brian Graham, head of Street Scene, the council’s frontline environmental services, said: “We currently recycle 25% of waste and are hoping to double that. Kerbside recycling is an opt-in. Now if someone doesn’t separate their glass, paper or cardboard at home, it’s treated at the plant.”

Volume of waste is reduced by 80% under the new scheme, dramatically cutting landfill charges. Mr Graham said the firm was actively looking for “a suitable end use for that residual waste”.

The plant could eventually disperse heat via pipes to nearby offices and workshops.

Mr Graham said the money saved by the council would be reinvested, but he could not say whether those savings would be passed on to the taxpayer.