Machinery in place at new waste station
MACHINERY that will be used to process waste at the new transfer station has been installed at Longue Hougue.
In recent weeks, processing equipment for recyclables and refuse, air pollution control, fire safety equipment and other apparatus has been installed at the purpose-built Longue Hougue household waste recycling centre.
There are three bays, the first one containing the largest piece of kit – a Bollegraaf HBT 120 – which will be used to separate the recyclables, compress and then wrap them before going along a conveyor belt which ends outside the main building.
The HBT balers can turn large quantities of waste into homogeneous bales, with a pressure force of 120 tonnes, a weight press of 35,000kg and motor capacity of 90 kilowatts.
The equipment was shipped over in sections by boat, mainly from the Netherlands, and then assembled on-site by engineers from Bollegraaf, who manufactured the recycling apparatus.
Refuse collectors will go into the second bay to unload their recyclable waste, which will be loaded from there into the hopper before being processed.
General refuse will be sorted in the third and final bay.
This waste will initially go through a mechanical shredding process, before undergoing magnetic separation to remove metals for recycling.
The remaining material will then be formed into cube-shaped bales, approximately one-metre high, and wrapped in plastic film. The processed waste is then termed as a refuse derived fuel.
The initial processing of food waste will also take place in the transfer station, before being loaded into tankers ready for export.
Odour control has been fitted throughout the building and doors will be closed inside the bays while waste is being deposited.
Fire and safety equipment has been installed, which includes pumps and a firestore that has a working capacity of 622.7 metres cubed, which equates to 622,700 litres of water.
The States has signed a contract with one of Europe’s leading waste exporters, Geminor, which will see material from Guernsey sent to the UK and then on to a heat and energy recovery facility in Sweden.
Guernsey will still benefit from the energy recovered, even though it will all be used in Sweden, as the plant operator receives income from energy recovery that offsets its processing costs.
As a result, the price to deal with Guernsey’s waste is lower than it would be if no energy was recovered.
It is estimated that when it is operating at capacity, the facility will handle some 1,800-2,000 tonnes of glass waste each year, about 4,000 tonnes of food waste and 26,000 of general waste.
