Sherbourne Recycling Limited has announced it has signed a contract to begin construction on a new Material Recycling Facility (MRF) based near Coventry.

The recycling company is owned by eight local authorities around the Midlands: Coventry City Council, Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council, North Warwickshire District Council, Rugby Borough Council, Stafford District Council, Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council, Walsall Council and Warwick District Council.

Coventry MRF

Sherbourne Recycling will finance the construction of the facility, which will cost upwards of £30 million. Each partner has committed to a long-term waste supply agreement to collect and recycle domestic waste from residents.

The facility, once operational, will have the capacity to process 175 kilo-tonnes per annum of domestic and commercial recycling, and is expected to save councils around £1.4 million a year.

Richard Dobbs, Managing Director of Sherbourne Recycling, said: “Over the last decade it has been increasingly challenging and expensive for local authorities to manage recyclate collected at the kerbside.

“By creating a partnership, we were able to develop the business case for a regional 175 kilo-tonnes per annum facility, and now with Machinex on board as our process equipment provider, we are really excited about being able to take greater control and push market boundaries.

“After months of hard work, today signifies a huge achievement for all involved in the project. With all contracts now in place we can begin the hard work of building the MRF of the future and creating our place in the market.”

Construction of the facility, which begins in summer 2021 and is expected to take 15 months to complete, will be overseen by Nottingham-based Clegg Group and waste equipment manufacturer Machinex.

John Moxon, Business Development Director at Clegg Group, said: “We’re delighted to be on board and supporting the construction of this state-of-the-art facility.

“This project will make a real difference to the recycling capabilities in the West Midlands so we’re really looking forward to commencing work and bringing this project to life.”

Jonathan Menard, VP Sales and Strategic Positioning at Machinex, said: “Since selection back in December 2020, we have worked hard with Sherbourne to offer some value engineering and finalise the contractual documentation to assure a successful project and optimise efficiency of the sorting system.

“We are pleased to work with the whole team at Sherbourne and we could not think of a better partnership to accomplish the MRF of the future and to disrupt the industry.”

The MRF will integrate artificial intelligence (AI) into its operations, with the facility set to utilise sorting robots and optical sorters. The operational management of the MRF will be based on data collected by the AI.

Following planning approval from Coventry City Council in January 2021, the MRF is set to be built on former allotment land next to the Energy-from-Waste facility operated by the Coventry and Solihull Waste Disposal Company (CSWDC).

It will be just over 12,000 sqm and set on a four-acre site allocated for waste use in Coventry’s Local Plan from 2017.