A NEW £200m waste recycling plant could create 220 jobs in the region and regenerate 500-acres of disused land as part of plans to revolutionise the way rubbish is processed in Britain.
The Doncaster Energy from Waste (DEW) Project, next to Hatfield Colliery, aims to combine tried and tested technologies from different parts of the world to process waste, improve recycling output and deliver over 30MW of green energy from waste.
Developers say the project will be the first of its type in Europe and will put virtually nothing into landfill.
Furthermore, it can take segregated and non-segregated waste from households and businesses, so that kerbside collected material will be properly recycled. The technology incorporates an initial sorting process when all potential recyclable materials, such as glass, plastics and metals, can be treated and fed into an adjacent eco-park that will transform them into marketable products.
It is also able to generate recycled material that, until now, has been very difficult to process, such as bottles with corks in them and shredded paper.
The DEW project also includes a series of processes that makes use of non-recyclable waste.
After a steam treatment of that waste, the recovery process produces a fibre that is used in boilers to produce green energy as electricity, fed into the National Grid to make the Doncaster area vital for green energy.
The project is a partnership between regional regeneration expert and land owner Waystone, and energy from waste firm AvVail.
The partnership plans to site the DEW Project next to the working colliery in the Stainforth, Hatfield and Dunscroft area, putting Doncaster on the map for the most environmentally friendly energy from waste process possible.
Director of AvVail Prof Markus Vinzent said: “After years of research and close university industry co-operation, we are delighted to bring this project to Doncaster. The process is the world’s greenest solution to processing waste and delivers against the government strategy to reduce overall waste and maximise recycling. When the plant is operational we expect to employ approximately 220 people with jobs ranging from management to semi-skilled.
“We have also pledged to donate a percentage of funds generated from the plant into a community fund that is used to support local services, plant over a quarter of a million trees and provide a thriving place to live, work and play.”
Stuart McLoughlin, managing director of Waystone that owns the site where the plant is proposed, added: “The DEW Project will be the catalyst for much wider regeneration for the DN7 area and we are very excited.
“We are already placing a new ‘power park’ on the adjacent site and have recently secured planning permission to build a new link road connecting it direct to the M18. The DEW Project will also greatly assist with our proposed 500 berth off-line marina on the Stainforth and Keadby Canal which received public support some time ago.”
Extensive land and waterscaping with new homes will come with the DEW project.
Consultation is currently underway with a brochure delivered to all local households and a series of presentations in the Stainforth, Dunscroft and Hatfield areas. More information is available on www.dew.uk.net
If permission is granted, work could start later this year so that the project can be ready for commercial operation by late 2011.
Discussions are also underway with power and gas company E.ON over the project’s sustainable energy generation potential.
lizzie.murphy@ypn.co.uk
ENERGY COMES FROM PROCESS
During the Doncaster Energy from Waste process, waste is sent into the waste reception hall following initial sorting to remove any potential oversized items such as furniture and appliances.
The product is then sanitised and broken down before being passed through a screening process to strip out all potential recyclable items such as glass, plastics and metals which are then reformed into other marketable products.
Following the recovery process a fibre is left which is used to power boilers. They produce steam to drive turbines and so generate electricity.
Yorkshire Post (Hull & East Riding Edition)
Business
Date: 19/03/2009