Shanks Group plc, a leading international sustainable waste management business, today officially opened the new 75,000 tonne Southern Resource Park mechanical biological treatment (‘MBT’) waste facility in Barrow, Cumbria.
The new facility will complement Shanks’ Northern Resource Park MBT facility near Carlisle, which opened in December 2011, in providing a total waste management solution for Cumbria County Council. One of the main outputs from the MBT process will be solid recovered fuel (‘SRF’) which can be used for energy production in a variety of facilities and industrial processes, such as cement kilns.
Under the 25-year, £700m contract, Shanks will process around 200,000 tonnes of household waste per annum; helping to reduce the amount of methane the county produces, saving the Council millions of pounds in landfill tax and diverting around 85% of the waste processed from landfill.
Planning was granted in March 2010 and full service will commence on time at the Southern Resource Park on 1st April 2013, by which time the facility will be ready to start accepting waste from the Borough of Barrow, South Lakeland and Eden District.
The running and management of the site will create up to 15 jobs locally, in addition to the 50 jobs created during the construction phase of the new facility.
Peter Dilnot, Chief Executive of Shanks Group plc said:
“We are delighted to have opened this state-of-the-art facility which will transform the way Cumbria deals with its household waste. We look forward to working with the authority and local residents to make more from Cumbria’s waste by increasing recycling and creating renewable energy.
Cllr Norman Clarkson, Cumbria County Council’s Chairman, said:
“It was a great honour to be asked to open this multi-million pound facility, which has opened on time and on budget. We are changing waste from being something that was previously just buried and disposed of, into a resource which has value and saves us using other fossil fuels. In short, we are giving waste a second life and being cleaner, greener and more cost-effective."