A FORMER factory site in Bradford could soon be used as for the treatment of up to 150,000 tonnes of waste a year.

Associated Waste Management (AWM) has revealed plans for a site off Ripley Road, West Bowling - once home to the former Solaglass factory.

The company owns the site and it is currently used for the storage of skips on a temporary basis.

New documents submitted to Bradford Council show that plans are underway to create a “mechanical biological treatment facility” on the site.

The factory was demolished after a huge blaze in 2009 that badly damaged the building. The land has been earmarked as a potential waste management site for the past decade.

Previous plans to build an “energy from waste” plant on the site were approved by Bradford Council in 2013, but the facility was never built.

Now AWM has submitted a “screening opinion” for the proposed new facility to Bradford Council.

This type of application comes before a planning application to determine if the future application needs to include an Environmental Impact assessment.

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The documents reveal that the planned development would sort huge amounts of waste each day, separating recyclables and using some waste to create dried material that can be used as a substitute for fossil fuels.

The documents say the development would generate 88 vehicle movements a day once operating at full capacity - up from the 60 a day that the skip storage facility generates.

It says: “The facility would have the capacity to treat 150,000 tonnes per annum of waste managed by the Associated Waste Management and LSS Group from Bradford and Leeds.

“The development would entail the construction of one large building (with a floorspace of about 12,000 square metres) which would enable waste to be received and for its processing through biological treatment and drying. The process involves shredding and screening of the incoming waste and segregation of recyclable materials, such as metals, plastic, paper and cardboard, glass, wood and inert materials (soil, brick, rubble and concrete etc.) using automated density separators, magnets etc.

“The remaining waste material including the organic fraction is then sent for biodrying which is a process whereby the material is subject to positive supply aeration which in combination with the material properties causes it to heat up and the moisture content is removed. The dry material can then be used as a high quality SRF in substitute for fossil fuels.

“ It would provide a new renewable energy source and assist in the drive to a low carbon economy and adaption to climate change.”

A planning application is expected to follow later this year.