Environment

The Waste Treatment Project aims to find a way of using the waste that is currently sent to landfill by providing a new waste treatment facility.

The new facility will operate for at least 25 years and will have the capacity to deal with around 230,000 tonnes of household waste produced each year.

The new waste treatment facility will:

Be better for the environment

• The new facility will help us to improve our recycling to 50% by 2020.
• It will significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions by reducing the need to put waste in landfill where it degrades and creates greenhouse gases which damage the atmosphere and add to global warming.
• Any emissions from the facility will be kept to a minimum, be actively monitored and will be less harmful than methane produced by landfill sites.
• The carbon footprint of the Councils' waste management services will be significantly reduced by treating waste locally rather than sending it to distant landfill outside of the district.

Be cost effective

• Whatever we do with our waste, the cost is constantly increasing. The new facility will be competitive in terms of price and will cost less than landfill.

Produce green energy

• The waste will be used to generate enough electricity to power the equivalent of up to 20,000 homes, thereby recovering further value from waste.

Partnership

Bradford and Calderdale face the same problems of dealing with waste and have therefore entered into a partnership. This partnership improves the viability of the project which needs a large investment in facilities. By pooling our resources economies of scale can be achieved and money can be saved.

Funding

The Councils will receive £62.1m in Waste Infrastructure Credits from the Government to support development of our plans.

Environmental Impact

The new waste treatment facility will need a new planning permission and an environmental permit from the Environment Agency. These permissions and permits will specify limits to levels of traffic and require measures to limit and control noise, litter, smells and emissions into the environment. As with all such operations, the facility will be regularly inspected to make sure it is operated within permitted limits and that control measures are working effectively.

Emissions associated with obtaining energy from waste or fuel derived from waste are subject to strict regulation contained within an Environmental Permit, which will require continuous monitoring. Results from such monitoring will be available to the public.