£42million recycling plant open for business
A £42million recycling plant, which will put Cambridgeshire at the forefront of waste management in the UK, opened yesterday, Monday, 9 November.

The Mechanical Biological Treatment (MBT) Plant is the first of its kind in the country and will sort and recycle much of the waste that normally ends up in landfill from people’s “black bag” rubbish.

Rubbish collected from households across the County will be sorted at the plant which is off the A10 near Waterbeach, and run by local family firm Donarbon in partnership with Cambridgeshire County Council.

The massive, hi-tech treatment plant, built by BAM Nuttall was completed ahead of schedule after the contract to construct the plant was signed in March 2008, which is the length of three football pitches, houses giant shredding machines called Terminators, and the latest mechanical sorting equipment, provided by Kelagh and Komptech, which removes material for recycling before turning the rest of the waste into compost like material for use on non-food crops or a fuel.

An education centre will also be developed at the site so people can learn more about the facility and why it is so important to recycle.

Waste which is normally not recycled will be sorted at the facility. Once the plant is fully commissioned, it will mean that potentially about 80 per cent of rubbish that normally ends up in landfill will now be recycled or composted.

At the moment just over half of the County’s domestic waste is recycled or composted. But this new facility, combined with improved recycling centres, will mean Cambridgeshire will massively reduce the tonnes of rubbish that ends up in landfill.

Landfilling rubbish is not only bad for the environment but Government taxes every tonne of waste that ends up in the ground. This tax is currently £40 a tonne and will increase by £8 a tonne year on year.

Cambridgeshire County Councillor Tony Orgee, Cabinet member for the Economy and the Environment said: 'Cambridgeshire is not only at the forefront of recycling and composting, but, thanks to this new plant, we now lead the way in treating waste that would otherwise be landfilled. The County Council is investing millions of pounds in providing better facilities to reduce, re-use and recycle our rubbish as part of our commitment to reducing our impact on climate change and getting value for money for our taxpayers. This new plant, together with the new recycling centres we are building, will reduce the amount of money spent on throwing rubbish into landfill and reduce the impact of waste on the environment. Cambridgeshire leads the country in using this technology and with the County's population expected to grow by 100,000 by 2021, we need to stay ahead in dealing with our waste.'

Mark Davenport, Managing Director for Donarbon, said: 'We have an excellent working partnership with Cambridgeshire County Council and we are confident that the investment in new waste treatment facilities, which includes over £10million in two new waste transfer stations at Alconbury and March and a new in-vessel composting plant at Waterbeach on top of this fantastic new MBT plant, will ensure that all councils in Cambridgeshire meet, and exceed their targets. We are also proud to say we will be employing local labour to operate the new sites.'

Further Info
Peter Bishop - Head of Public Relations & Corporate Communication
BAM Nuttall Limited
St James House, Knoll Road, Camberley,
Surrey GU15 3XW
Tel: 01276 63484
Fax:01276 66060
peter.bishop@bamnuttall.co.uk