Sticky situation as battle against flies at Manvers waste plant boosted

NEW equipment has been added in the battle against flies at Rotherham’s £750 million waste plant.
Tracy Cartright, landlady of the Roman Hotel at MexboroughTracy Cartright, landlady of the Roman Hotel at Mexborough
Tracy Cartright, landlady of the Roman Hotel at Mexborough

The BDR facility at Manvers had 38 complaints during the year ending March in relation to noise, smell and flies.

This figure was down from 59 last year — and is expected to fall further thanks to the installation of new anti-insect kit.

But the change cannot come soon enough for pub landlady Tracey Cartwright, who said punters at the Roman Hotel in Mexborough had been plagued by flies since the BDR plant opened.

“We have fly strips and they are just covered,” she said.

“We never had it until the waste plan opened.

“I have phoned them 12 times in the past year but nothing seems to get done about it.

“There have been a lot of other businesses affected by it. 

“It’s unbelievable — we have fly spray but it doesn’t seem to affect them at all. There are hundreds of them.”

BDR’s annual report said: “There have been several fly complaints throughout the year, which have all been investigated. 

“A new larvicide dosing system has been designed and installed on the shredders, which should give an improvement in the level of fly numbers in 2018/19.”

BDR processed nearly 220,000 tonnes of rubbish in the year ending March, down from 240,000 the previous year.

Only four per cent of the rubbish arriving there from Rotherham, Barnsley and Doncaster ends up in landfill.

More than half — 55 per cent in 2017/18 — ends up as refuse-derived fuel, which is used to generate electricity and hot water in communal heating systems.

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