Plevin announces major plans for UK’s largest waste wood recycling centre

WOOD recycling firm Plevin has announced plans to open the the UK’s largest waste wood recycling centre in South Yorkshire.

The Lancashire company wants to install the £5m project on a 50 acre site in Hazlehead, South Yorkshire, which will create 20 jobs and process up to 150,000 tonnes of waste wood a year.

The new centre will primarily produce recycled wood chips for energy giant E.ON’s £120m renewable energy plant at Blackburn Meadows near Sheffield, with Plevin the exclusive suppliers of fuel for the biomass-fired facility.

Managing director Jamie Plevin said: “The Hazlehead facility will be a fantastic development for us, and with the E.ON contract we are making significant strides towards our growth targets.

“As well as helping us expand our operations by giving us further capacity for new contracts, Hazlehead will also help us to offer increased processing volumes to existing customers. The addition of the Hazlehead facility to our portfolio brings our total permitted waste wood processing capacity to 350,000 tonnes per year.

“The project will allow us to have an open gate policy for contracted suppliers on all grades of waste wood. Once completed, we will be able to offer guaranteed recycling of a large volume of high and low grade waste wood.

“The development has been timed to coincide with the start of our contract with E.ON, with work due for completion in Spring 2014.”

As well as processing biomass fuel, Plevin manufactures a range of wood-based products, including materials for the panel board industry and animal bedding for livestock, equestrian and small animals.

The sourcing of the additional 150,000 tonnes of wood waste for the Hazlehead development will be overseen by business development manager Andrew McFadzean, who has recently been recruited by Plevin as part of its ongoing recruitment drive.

His new role will include responsibility for sourcing and procuring waste wood for all Plevin sites, as well as supporting with logistic and processing operations.

Mr McFadzean said: “I’m delighted to be here, everything I’ve been doing so far in my career has come together in this role.”

“Hazlehead is an excellent site, no other wood recycling company has ever had a facility like it, and on the back of it we have a fabulous contract with E.ON, which is particularly impressive considering there are tough times elsewhere in the sector. It really is an exciting time for everyone here at Plevin.”