Waste transfer station is on budget and early
THE waste transfer station has been delivered on budget and was officially handed over six weeks earlier than planned.
The station, located at Longue Hougue, is now the central processing facility for the island’s household and commercial waste.
States’ Trading Assets deputy managing director Richard Evans said: ‘The total budget for all the new waste facilities at Longue Hougue was £32m. Around £28.5m. relates to the transfer station, including all the design and construction of the new building, all the equipment inside, the moving plant, and the development of the site as a whole. That is all being delivered on budget.’
Wood plc were contracted to complete the work. A company spokesman said it did have concerns over the supply chain, but the project had gone efficiently.
‘Our previous experience was very much focused on conceptual projects and we were eager to expand into physical construction,’ he said.
‘Working in collaboration with Geomarine allowed us vital insight to the local way of doing things. We were able to use them and draw on our own 60,000-plus strong company and complete the work on budget for the States and six weeks before expected.’
States’ Trading Supervisory Board president Deputy Peter Ferbrache opened the facility officially.
‘I think it is a great step forward and it is working really efficiently, with really a lot less criticism than was expected for what is quite a dramatic change to our waste initiative,’ he said.
‘However, we are going to keep our foot on the accelerator and keep moving forward. If anyone has any concerns or questions please feed them through to the board and we will answer them.’
Made up of three separate processing chambers, the station deals with about 2,500 households-worth of waste every day, constituting 30 to 35 tonnes of refuse.
In the first chamber, food waste is processed by pushing it through a screen, filtering out the non-perishable items and moving them on to the general waste chamber, while the remaining waste is pumped with liquid before being further processed in a macerator.
The resulting substance is pumped into a tanker, ready for export to the UK.
The food waste is exported to an anaerobic digestion facility near Warminster, Wiltshire, where it is used to produce energy while the remaining sludge becomes fertiliser.
General and commercial waste is delivered to the second chamber, where it is shredded.
Care is taken to ensure the mix is the correct consistency, otherwise the shredder can jam. This happens in about one in eight loads, but the process is becoming increasingly efficient.
The issue arises mainly with commercial waste. Without food waste collection businesses often present the waste facility with a saturated product, not ideal for processing.
Shredded waste then moves on to the conveyor belt and is fed through the hopper in the final chamber.
In there is a hopper, baling machine, and glass processing point. The waste is fed through the hopper on the conveyor belt and then along to the baling machine.
Once shaped – in 4ft cubes – the waste is wrapped in bales and goes into a truck.
Each bale is weighed to ensure it meets parameters and, if unsuccessful, is returned back to chamber two for further processing.
Glass is also handled in chamber three and is the easiest process, requiring only loading.
In addition to the opening of the waste transfer station, the newly-designed household recycling centre is nearing completion.
That is a replacement for the long-running site at Longue Hougue and is modelled similarly to facilities found in the UK or France.
Expected to be officially opened in mid-May, it will mark completion of the latest phase in the island’s revised waste strategy.
