Waste management firm Veolia Environmental Services officially unveiled its state-of-the-art Materials Recycling Facility (MRF) in Gillmoss, Liverpool, on Friday (June 1).
The 20 million facility, seen as the companys flagship Merseyside site, has the capacity to process around 50,000 tonnes per year of mixed household recyclables, and also features an education and visitors centre for use by local schools and community groups.
The plant has been built as part of Veolias 640 million 20-year waste and recycling contract with the Merseyside Recycling and Waste Authority (MRWA), signed in May 2009 (see letsrecycle.com story).
Construction work on the facility began in early 2011, and was completed by August, with the plant then operational by September 2011.
Technology
The facility sorts and separates baled mixed household recyclables including cardboard, paper, mixed plastics and plastic bottles collected from homes in St Helens, Knowsley and Liverpool. Until the opening of the Gillmoss MRF, all of the material collected on Merseyside had been sent for processing at Veolias MRF at Bidston.
A combination of mechanical screening and hand sorting is used on site, with the facility using next generation hi-tech-infra red sorting robots supplied by waste and recycling technology firm CP Manufacturing to automatically recognise different material streams.
Separated materials recovered at the plant will go on to secondary processing facilities, with Veolia ES keen to find UK-based reprocessors for products, with a small proportion of non recyclable waste also being sent for energy recovery.
As part of its arrangement with MWDA, Veolia is heavily involved with community education schemes which include the opening of the education facilities at the flagship Gillmoss site.
Education
The Recycling Discovery Centre at Gillmoss includes an activity room with viewing platforms allowing visitors to see the sorting equipment in operation, as well as CCTV cameras to look in closer detail at the MRF and a number of interactive displays about recycling.
Speaking at the opening of the facility, Veolia ES chief executive, Jean Dominique-Mallet said: It was three years ago that I signed the contract with the Merseyside Recycling and Waste Authority and it is extremely rewarding to see what has happened in those three years.
In terms of our work in the community, education is crucial. We are never going to improve recycling unless we invest in educating children, and this is an important place for us to be able to reach the community.”
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