Bradford waste recycling plant is approved (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Bradford waste recycling plant is approved

10:00am Friday 2nd November 2012 in News By Jo Winrow, City Hall Reporter

A green light has been given to the building of a major waste plant in the city as part of a 25-year £300 million contract to deal with household waste from Bradford and Calderdale.

Members of Bradford Council’s regulatory and appeals committee yesterday unanimously approved the plans from Pennine Resource Recovery for the “innovative” centre.

The company was selected as the preferred bidder as part of a contract to deal with up to 193,000 tonnes of household waste a year from across Bradford and Calderdale. It now has permission to build a facility incorporating resource recovery and energy recovery technologies at the Council-owned Bowling Back Lane site which is currently home to a waste transfer site and household tip.

Machines will extract valuable recyclable materials before the remainder is used to produce electricity to be supplied to the National Grid – enough to power the equivalent of 20,000 homes.

Speaking after the meeting, Mark Tribe, project director for Pennine Resource Recovery, said: “Our project will bring great economic and environmental benefits to Bradford and Calderdale and we’re delighted councillors have recognised this.

“This decision is great news for Bradford and Calderdale. The scheme has been specifically designed for the area and we will be working very closely with local training and employment agencies to ensure that local people across both districts are able to benefit from the employment and training opportunities on offer.”

The 25-year deal aims to divert more than 90 per cent of waste away from landfill and increase recycling rates to more than half.

As part of the project about 80 permanent jobs will be created at Bowling Back Lane and Hard Ings Way, Keighley, with a further 300 positions created during construction. It will also bring about £30 million in construction contracts to the area, as well as making possible contracts available for local recycling companies.

Councillors also agreed to the diversion of a gas main and for a temporary contractor’s compound to be created during the construction period.

In passing the plans members of the committee described the plant as “innovative” and said it would be a “landmark” for the city. It is expected that construction will begin in spring with the plant up and running by April 2016.