Waste management firm SITA UK has today (January 11) formally submitted a planning application for a 269,000 tonnes-a-year capacity energy-from-waste incinerator to Suffolk county council.
SITA UK's parent company Suez Environnement will provide £185 million investment in order to build the energy-from-waste incinerator, with the waste management firm hopeful of having the plant operational by late 2014.
The plant will be constructed at the former Highways Depot at Lodge Lane and is intended to help save the council £350 million over the course of the contract's 25-year operational life. In addition, the plant is expected to generate enough electricity to power 30,000 households.
Commenting on the planning application, James Dowell, project manager at SITA UK, said: “Following months of developing our planning application and liaising very closely with local residents as part of our pre-application consultation programme we are very confident that energy-from-waste is the best option to make Suffolk an even greener county.”
Mr Dowell added: “We have worked with leading international architects, Grimshaw, who have produced a unique design for the facility to ensure it fits well into its surroundings. We have received positive feedback about the design and the need for the facility and we have responded to questions that have been raised by the local community.”
The company has also set up a community liaison group – made up of local residents – as a forum to discuss issues relating to the proposed development.
Mr Dowell also said that the plant would “sit alongside” Suffolk's ambitions of recycling 60% of municipal waste by 2015 and help curb the 200,000 tonnes of household waste that is currently landfilled in the region each year. The council currently recycles and composts 50% of its waste.
The official consultation period, which is being overseen by Suffolk County Council's planners in the Development Control service, will begin after SITA UK's planning application has been validated.
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