" This scheme represents a fantastic opportunity for Cardiff to lead the way in waste management and would contribute significantly to the National aspiration to achieve sustainable waste management and energy generation. Cardiff’s waste challenges could be met via a modern, well-engineered facility which provides an alternative to landfill, and this can only be a good thing"
Paul Guy, PMG Estates co-owner
A Welsh property development company has teamed up with Viridor Waste Management in a plan to construct a £150m resource recovery and energy from waste facility in Cardiff.
PMG Estates Limited, jointly owned by Paul Guy and Mike Hall, has announced plans to create the state-of-the-art facility on its Trident Park site in Cardiff Bay. The company says that this would place Cardiff at the forefront of waste management practice in the UK.
PMG has selected Viridor Waste Management, as its preferred bidder to take forward the proposals and the two companies are to establish plans for the £150 million waste management scheme.
Key to the project will be consultation with stakeholders, including the local community, to explain the proposals and ensure that they have the opportunity to comment on the draft project. This would be achieved by providing a forum for discussion and ensuring the public is part of the process and able to contribute at every step.
Landfill sites in the Cardiff area are rapidly running out and also the cost of landfill is rising. In addition pressures from European legislation such as the Landfill Directive requires local authorities to reduce their use of landfill and find alternatives. Failure to do so is likely to lead to significant financial penalties.
The new facility would recovering energy from household waste and provide a “substantial” quantity of electricity to Cardiff. PMG says that Trident Park itself could benefit by getting all its combined heat and power needs directly from the proposed new waste facility. This could help make Trident the first fully sustainable business site in Wales.
Trident Park extends to more than 50 acres in total and is a suitable site for the proposed scheme according to PMG. There are no residential properties nearby and Trident Park is close to the existing landfill site. Effectively this would mean that existing site traffic would not need to be redirected to a different part of the city. PMG also indicate that, "Importantly, due to the previous operation of a blast furnace on Trident Park, it has an Integrated Pollution Prevention Control Licence (IPPC)". Hence many operating issues have already been addressed as part of consultations during the issue of the IPPC licence.
Viridor Waste Management has decades of experience and has been one of the fastest growing companies in the waste sector over recent years. Viridor is owned by parent company Pennon Group plc. The company currently services 31 local authority waste management contracts, has a wide base of private sector customers and operates 189 waste facilities across the UK.
Viridor is also an industry leader in developing renewable power generation utilising waste as an energy source. The company’s plants currently produces 75 megawatts of electricity, which Viridor says is enough electricity to supply the domestic needs for a city the size of Bristol.
Comments
Commenting on the proposal, Paul Guy, PMG Estates co-owner said:
“This scheme represents a fantastic opportunity for Cardiff to lead the way in waste management and would contribute significantly to the National aspiration to achieve sustainable waste management and energy generation. Cardiff’s waste challenges could be met via a modern, well-engineered facility which provides an alternative to landfill, and this can only be a good thing.”
Dan Cooke, External Affairs Manager for Viridor commented:
“We are delighted to have been chosen by PMG as its preferred partner to take this exciting scheme forward and appreciate how important this project could prove to be for the city of Cardiff. This site could greatly assist Cardiff in meeting the significant challenges involved in moving to more sustainable methods of managing waste as a resource and recovering value while continuing to maximise recycling levels. We are looking forward to having detailed discussions in the near future with key stakeholders to take the proposals forward.”