Manvers waste plant plan - bosses rubbish 'scare stories'

WASTE chiefs have hit back at scare stories about their plans for a £77 million pound processing plant—branding them a load of rubbish.Streetpride boss Tom Knight came out fighting this week after campaigners living near the preferred site in M

WASTE chiefs have hit back at scare stories about their plans for a £77 million pound processing plant—branding them a load of rubbish.

Streetpride boss Tom Knight came out fighting this week after campaigners living near the preferred site in Manvers raised concerns that the proposed facility to deal with Rotherham’s mountain of rubbish could be a health hazard.

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Mr Knight, Rotherham Borough Council’s waste procurement manager, told the Advertiser that the plant would be state-of-the-art and constantly monitored to ensure public safety.

He also rejected claims that the process would amount to “incineration.

While rubbish would be burned on-site, Mr Knight said, it would benefit the environment by producing enough electricity to power all the schools and facilities owned and run by Rotherham, Barnsley and Doncaster Councils.

“This is not about rubbish being destroyed,” he said. “The idea is to get everything we can from the waste by producing electricity from it. Even the ash can be used in road-building and making breeze blocks.

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“Very little will go to landfill and the power produced will meet the needs of the three councils’ schools and services.”

Speaking on behalf of the Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham Waste Partnership—which is spearheading the Private Finance Initiative scheme—Mr Knight insisted that many of the negative rumours flying round the Dearne Valley  had no truth in them all.

Mr Knight insisted: “It will be state-of-the-art, feature the latest technology and bring jobs to the area."

Full details of the plans drawn up by the four bidders for the scheme have not been released, but each company's plans feature an element of burning rubbish to produce electricity.

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A selection of other hi-tech processes are also being considered, including using colour-recognition technology to pick separate different types of glass for recycling and using rubbish-eating bugs to process waste.

Sites around the three boroughs, including the councils’ preferred site at Bolton Road, Manvers, are currently being assessed for suitability.

A Government inspector will rule independently next summer on which is the best site. All four bidders want to use the Manvers site, meaning that if the inspector rules against it the partnership will have to go back to the drawing board.

 

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