West Sussex County Council’s Planning Committee has granted Grundon Waste Management planning permission to build a recycling and recovery centre in Ford.
Covering six and a half hectares of the Circular Technology Park in Ford, the centre will include a 60,000 tonne per annum materials recovery facility (MRF) and an advanced thermal treatment facility, which will convert residual waste that Grundon says cannot be recycled or recovered into electricity (and heat) via gasification.
In total, the facilities will have the capacity to process up to 200,000 tonnes of materials per year and generate 12 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 29,000 homes. Nearby industrial buildings could also be able to recoup the heat produced by the residual waste treatment plant.
Facility to focus on commercial and industrial waste
Speaking after the planning permission was granted, Grundon’s Deputy Chairman, Neil Grundon, said that he was ‘delighted’ that the development had received planning permission and hoped it would “help West Sussex to ‘close the loop’ in the circle and achieve its target of zero waste to landfill by 2030”.
Andrew Short, Estates Director for Grundon, said: “The Circular Technology Park will make good use of a brownfield industrial site and will create new jobs in the area, both during construction and operation.
“By giving consent at Ford, West Sussex Council has provided the opportunity for Grundon to develop a strategically important facility in the county, which will be able to meet the council’s ambition of zero [waste] to landfill. Importantly, this will focus on the commercial and industrial markets, promoting recovery of usable materials as well as treatment of residuals to create energy. It also expands our operational area into new markets, enabling us to provide innovative waste management services to our existing and new clients.”
Household waste is treated at a separate MRF in Ford, run by waste management company Viridor.
Find out more about Grundon’s plans for Circular Technology Park.
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