The county council has received planning permission to construct a facility that will receive residual waste generated by residents in South Staffordshire. EfW plants, by their very nature, are large buildings requiring large sites. The Four Ashes site at The Dell, Enterprise Drive, covers 10 acres.

EfW is a well established technology which is as highly controlled and managed as any industrial process. EfW facilities are designed to burn waste as efficiently as possible, recovering energy. Waste is burnt under controlled conditions and at high temperatures. Heat released from the combustion of this waste is recovered and used to generate electricity and/or to provide steam or hot water.

The facility means the volume of waste needing disposal would be reduced by approximately 90%, dramatically reducing the need for landfill.

The EfW facility at Four Ashes will generate at least 24.5 megawatts of electricity, which is enough to power 20,000 residential properties. It will be designed to have an operating lifespan of at least 25 years and will take three years to be built. Once built, it will operate on a seven day a week basis.

All waste to energy plants are regulated through the Integrated Pollution Prevention Control regime enforced by the Environment Agency. Waste incineration plants are required to operate to air emission standards set out in the EC Waste Incineration Directive.

What will the facility look like?

The council appreciates that the overall appearance of the building is very important to local residents. This design has been selected so that as much as possible of the equipment used to process the waste will be enclosed within the building. In particular there will be no waste stored outside the building. Parts of the facility will also be below ground level, thus reducing the overall impact of the building.

The building will be located so that the administrative offices and parking face the nearby fields and most of the parking will be out of sight in a basement. The industrial face of the facility will point towards the industrial estate. The building will also have a ‘green’ or ‘living roof’ which would be covered by natural plants.

Exterior lighting will be designed to minimise light pollution and the visual impact of the building at night.

Once the County Council has decided who we want to work with to build and run the facility, we will work closely with them to ensure the building is as small as possible.

The planning application

The planning application was submitted in May 2008.

Last November, the County’s planning committee made an unanimous decision to grant planning permission to build the facility at Four Ashes Industrial Estate.