Veolia confirmed for waste facility

WASTE management company Veolia has been confirmed as Leeds City Council’s its partner to build and run an incinerator in the city.

Subject to planning permission, the proposed recycling and energy recovery facility on the Cross Green Industrial Estate will provide Leeds with a long-term strategy to stop waste going to landfill.

It is estimated the proposed facility will save the council £200m over 25 years compared to the costs of continuing to landfill household waste.

A further £130m is to be provided to the Council by the Government towards the project over the life of the contract.

If planning permission is granted, all of Leeds’s black bin waste will be sorted at the facility to remove metal, paper, cardboard and plastics for recycling.

Up to 214,000 tonnes of waste a year will be sorted at the facility and only leftover waste will be burned under tightly controlled conditions. During this process enough electricity will be made to power 20,000 homes.

Neil Evans, Leeds City Council’s director of environment and neighbourhoods, said: “As part of the Council’s overall waste strategy, the facility will play a big part in increasing recycling and moving Leeds away from burying waste in landfill.

“Signing the contract was the next step in our timetable to provide the city with a long-term solution that turns waste into a valuable resource.”

Subject to planning approval, building work on the facility would start in summer 2013 and would be operational by 2016.