Artist's impression of the Milton Keynes Waste Recovery Park, courtesy of Race Cottam Associates Ltd.

A proposed waste recovery and gasification facility in Milton Keynes has been given the go-ahead after the Environment Agency (EA) granted an environmental permit to the operator, AmeyCespa Limited.

Having signed an 18-year contract with Milton Keynes Council to build and operate the facility earlier this year, AmeyCespa expects the plant to become operational in 2016.

£50 million savings

The park, to be built on the site of a former distribution centre in the Old Wolverton industrial area of Milton Keynes, will deal with household residual waste (currently sent to landfill), as well as some commercial waste from local offices, shops and restaurants.

Three different technologies will be used to treat the waste: mechanical treatment technology will extract recyclable materials from black bag waste, which can be reprocessed into new products; an anaerobic digestor will treat food or organic waste, creating renewable energy and compost-like output; and an advanced thermal treatment facility will utilise gasification technology to generate electricity from remaining unrecyclable waste. According to AmeyCespa, these technologies will create enough renewable electricity to power the equivalent of 11,000 homes.

AmeyCespa has previously said that by using the park instead of sending waste to landfill, the council could save ‘more than £50 million over the design life of the facility’, and reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill to two per cent.

The park is also expected to create 200 jobs during construction and 45 jobs once operational, increase recycling levels (currently at around 50 per cent), and include an on-site visitor and education centre for use by schools and the wider community.

Strict environmental standards

The recovery park is the second such facility to be built by AmeyCespa, after it gained planning permission to build a similar waste recovery park at Allerton Quarry in North Yorkshire.

Ross McIntyre, the EA regulatory officer for the Milton Keynes site, said: “By awarding this permit to AmeyCespa Limited, we have determined that the waste recovery and gasification facility will not have an impact on human health, air, water, land, habitats and species of animals and plants.

“When the site is built, we will ensure that AmeyCespa operate it in a way which meets our strict environmental standards and has minimal impact on anyone living nearby.”

Some ‘minor changes’ were made to the permit as a result of comments during the draft permit consultation, which closed on 30 October. These are detailed in the final decision document, which has been placed in the public register.

Read more about Milton Keynes Waste Recovery Park.