New £4m MRF opens in Bristol
A new £4-million Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) has been opened in Bristol by local waste management company ETM Recycling.
After its opening on Monday (8 April), the new facility will accept construction and demolition (C&D) waste, as well as commercial waste, doubling the amount of waste that ETM is able to process at its site in Ashton Vale in the south of Bristol.
The input capacity for the Ashton Vale site will now increase to 150,000 tonnes a year, with a processing rate of 80 tonnes per hour. Another MRF was built on the site in 2011, the year ETM was founded, processing around 70,000 tonnes of waste a year.
It is hoped that the new MRF, which was constructed using technology from Irish company Turmec, will improve efficiency and allow ETM to divert 98-100 per cent of waste that it processes away from landfill. The site should make a significant contribution to improving Bristol’s recycling rate, which currently stands at 44.9 per cent.
Commenting on the new facility, Amy McCormack, Director of ETM Recycling, said: “It seems like a long time ago when we put the wheels in motion for this, but since the build began at the start of the year it really gathered pace. To finally have it open and operational has been well worth the wait.
“Landfills are closing in the area, while waste is travelling further for residual disposal, and we want to avoid sending our waste to landfill at all costs. Our old plant was at full capacity and was not efficiently processing and diverting enough waste from landfill. No one had the material and process knowledge of Turmec, and we didn’t believe any other plant could provide us with such excellent landfill diversion whilst still being efficient.”
Brian Thornton, CEO of Turmec, added: “The configuration and layout is the most innovative that can be found anywhere in the South West of the UK. This is an amazing investment from a family business which shows nothing but commitment to their employees, their company, their clients and to Bristol. It cements their position as one of the largest and most dynamic waste processors in the South West and this is a landmark process that Bristol will benefit from.”
