From waste to energy
Borough’s rubbish will be taken to new recovery centre
A NEW power plant capable of transforming waste from west London boroughs including Harrow and Hillingdon into energy has opened.
Non-recycle rubbish from six London boroughs will be transported across England to the new Severnside Energy Recovery Centre (SERC) in South Gloucestershire.
The newly opened plant will be taking waste from Brent, Ealing, Harrow, Hillingdon, Hounslow and Richmond and convert it into energy to power homes through the National Grid.
Ealing councillor and chair of the West London Waste Authority, Bassam Mahouz, said: “In just three years following our award winning procurement, SUEZ has quickly and efficiently delivered the Severnside Energy Recovery Centre.
“Our partnership will deliver our ambitions of diverting almost all of our waste from landfill, continue to encourage increased recycling at a local borough level, and achieve savings for west London whilst creating a new, valuable energy source.
“We and the boroughs of Brent, Ealing, Harrow, Hillingdon, Hounslow and Richmond upon Thames will continue pushing on towards our ambitious target of 50% recycling by 2020 knowing that 96% of residual waste is being used to create renewable energy.”
The West London Waste Authority, in partnership with recycling company SUEZ, is hoping to divert 96% of waste to the new facility.
At SERC waste will be used as a fuel to create energy and the facility can produce enough electricity to power around 50,000 homes.
Waste will be transported to the facility via train from two transfer stations in Transport Avenue in Brentford and Victoria Road in Ruislip.
Chief executive officer of Suez recycling and recovery UK, David Palmer-Jones, said: “We’re delighted to round off 2016 on a high note by beginning operations at SERC on schedule, exactly three years after we broke ground sat Severnside.
“The Severnside Energy Recovery centre allows us to make best use of west London residents’ residual waste by turning it into sustainable energy and we very much look forward to serving west London’s residents for years to come.”
The West London Waste Authority is a statutory body responsible for disposing waste from Brent, Ealing, Harrow, Hounslow, Hillingdon and Richmond.