Council approves plans for clean, green waste plant

Last night Caerphilly county borough council approved plans to develop a modern, efficient waste transfer facility at a former landfill site near Llanbradach.

The proposed facility will be constructed on a brown field site below the former Trehir landfill site, where the council's civic amenity site is currently located. The waste transfer station will deal with general household refuse and recyclable material generated by properties in the Caerphilly basin.

The site will act as a 'staging post' where waste material is bulked together before being loaded on to larger vehicles for transportation to waste plants outside the area.

At the meeting, Cllr Lyn Ackerman, CCBC cabinet member for the environment gave an assurance that Trehir will be used as a waste transfer site not as a waste treatment site, "We appreciate that developments of this nature can be controversial and we are keen to ensure this proposed scheme will be clean, green and efficient in order to maximise our opportunities to sort waste in the best way possible. This decision is a positive step forward and fits alongside the other key partnership schemes that we are currently involved with to help improve our waste management," she added.

The site will deal with waste material (both recyclable material and general refuse) which would be sorted and then transferred to bulk haulage vehicles for transportation to appropriate recycling or waste treatment facilities outside the area. This will also help cut the number of vehicle journeys being made and reduce the council's carbon footprint. The site will also be able to transfer of compostable waste (food and garden) to specialist treatment facilities.

It is anticipated that the Trehir site will become operational in 2012.

At the meeting, the council also agreed to consider options for the future use of a building at Dyffryn Business Park near Ystrad Mynach (former St Ives site). A further report will be brought forward in the near future to look at the options available.