Viridor will start work starting this month on the development and upgrade of a materials recycling facility (MRF) at Chelson Meadow, Plymouth, UK, to enable residents to recycle glass from their doorstep for the first time.
UK company Viridor has been awarded a 10-year contract to upgrade and operate a materials recycling facility (MRF) at Chelson Meadow on behalf of Plymouth city council, the waste management firm announced.
Work will begin this month on developing the existing facility, which was previously mothballed by the council, with a view to opening in April 2015.
The council said the previous MRF was “not up to the job”, but that the new facility would enable residents to recycle glass from their doorstep for the first time.
According to Viridor, the nominal capacity of the upgraded MRF will be 25,000 tonnes per year on a single shift basis, although the capacity could increase to 40,000 tonnes per year were it to run two shifts per day, depending on input composition.
As part of the agreement, Viridor has begun taking Plymouth city council’s recyclables, which will be sent to the firm’s MRF in Kent until the GBP 6 million Chelson Meadow facility is completed.
As well as recovering cartons, aluminium and steel cans, mixed paper, cardboard and glass, the facility will have five near infra-red optical sorters to enable different types of plastic to be segregated.
“This facility reflects Viridor’s focus on delivering quality recyclate” – Chris Jonas
Viridor claims the process will achieve an ‘exceptionally high quality output’ from the input material.
Chris Jonas, head of strategic development at Viridor, said: “Viridor is delighted to deliver projects such as this and invest in state-of-the-art sortation equipment on behalf of our local authority clients. This facility reflects Viridor’s focus on delivering quality recyclate and meeting the requirements of our material reprocessors. This MRF site will be supported by Viridor’s other specialist glass, paper and plastics recycling plants that we are developing.”
Plymouth councillor Brian Vincent, cabinet member for the environment, said: “This is a significant landmark for us. We have wanted glass recycling right on people’s doorsteps for some time, but needed to replace the material recycling facility we had as it was not up to the job.
“This partnership with Viridor will not only help the council keep waste out of landfill and council tax down but will make recycling easier for residents.”
The announcement comes a month after Viridor renewed its contract with the Suffolk Waste Partnership to sort an estimated 50,000 tonnes of mixed household recyclables from all seven authorities in the county at its Great Blakenham MRF.