BDR Facility Accepts First Waste

International waste-to-product business, Shanks Group plc has accepted the first waste into its waste treatment facility in Rotherham, part of a £750 million contract with Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham (‘BDR’) Councils.

The facility is part of a majority owned joint venture with Scottish and Southern Energy (‘SSE’), 3SE (Barnsley, Doncaster & Rotherham) Limited. It comprises Mechanical Biological Treatment ('MBT') and Anaerobic Digestion ('AD') technologies which will process up to 265,000 tonnes of municipal waste each year. Once the facility is fully operational, it will divert 98% of waste from landfill and will save 114,000 tonnes of CO2 every year.

During processing, the waste will be turned into recycled products, green energy, a nutrient-rich digestate and Refuse Derived Fuel (‘RDF’). Under the contract, SSE will take around half of the RDF produced at BDR to generate green electricity at its new multi-fuel plant in Ferrybridge, a joint venture with Wheelabrator Technologies. The multi-fuel plant is scheduled to accept its first fuel next month.

Peter Eglinton, Managing Director of Shanks’ UK Municipal Division, said:

“As a leading waste-to-product company, we are delighted to be accepting first waste at our BDR facility in Rotherham. The facility will help to make more from the waste produced in the area by increasing recycling, generating green energy and producing compost for land remediation. We look forward to continuing to work with the authorities and local residents to increase their diversion from landfill using this genuinely sustainable solution.”

Councillor Roy Miller, Chair of the BDR Joint Waste Board, said: 

“This facility will increase recycling, reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill, make energy from waste and create new jobs.  At the same time we will be stepping up our campaign to encourage residents to recycle even more of what they throw away each day.”

Shanks will operate the facility over the 25-year period of the contract until 2040. It has created more than 40 new jobs in the local area and is on schedule to be fully operational in July 2015.