"We have been encouraged by the positive interest shown during our consultations with the local community and by the constructive comments we have received. As a result, we have been able to submit a strong planning application and we now look forward to the formal consultation period leading to the decision of the planning authority"
Howard Ellard, Viridor project manager
Viridor Waste Management has formally submitted a planning application for the Exeter Energy from Waste Combined Heat and Power facility. The company says that the facility is designed to help Devon County Council meet challenging Government targets to divert waste away from landfill and improve levels of recycling and recovery.
The submission follows a period of consultations with the public and other stakeholders.
The proposed plant would be sited on the Marsh Barton Industrial Estate on the area formerly occupied by the old Exeter incinerator decommissioned in 1996.
If consent is received from Devon planners, the new facility will treat a proportion of Exeter and Devon’s municipal waste while generating electricity and usable heat for the benefit of local business and industry, helping to replace fossil fuel use and improve energy efficiency.
The proposed plant would have a handling capacity of up to 60,000 tonnes and will use technology that has been successfully employed elsewhere in the UK and across Europe and the USA.
Devon’s waste
Devon’s county and district councils collect and manage 255,000 tones of wastes annually. The councils and their partners in the private sector have been successful in promoting composting and recycling with the very satisfactory outcome of achieving a recycling rate of 40.6% in 2005-06, the third highest rate in the country.
The proposal
The proposed Efw facility at Exeter (artist's impression courtesy of Viridor)
The new plant will use oscillating kiln technology which has been proven elsewhere but especially at the North Lincs plant near Grimsby. The North Lincs site is also constructed on a relatively small scale suitable for rural locations and waste quantities.
The new facility should have significant environmental benefits over similar technologies in that as well as producing electrical energy for feeding into the national grid, its efficiency will be increased due to the export of surplus heat produced to local users located nearby.
The facility would work alongside Devon’s recycling programmes and would not prevent the development of future recycling initiatives. The intention of Viridor is to use waste residues that cannot realistically be recycled for the foreseeable future.
At 60,000 tonnes capacity the proposed plant would be a relatively small efw unit. It would operate 24 hours per day and would employ 20 people.
Construction of the new facility would begin in 2008 if the planning application is successful, with operation commencement in 2010.
Viridor comments
Viridor project manager Howard Ellard said:
“We have been encouraged by the positive interest shown during our consultations with the local community and by the constructive comments we have received. As a result, we have been able to submit a strong planning application and we now look forward to the formal consultation period leading to the decision of the planning authority.”