A £7m state-of-the-art composting facility in Crewe has become fully operational.
Hull-based recycling and waste management firm Biowise were awarded the £30m contract in early 2018 to deliver an organic waste treatment solution for Cheshire East Council who were looking to expand their household organic waste collection service to include food waste.
In December 2018, following receipt of planning permission for the site at Leighton Grange, Biowise’s construction partner Ashcourt initiated the build which took just over a year to complete.
Ralph Kemp, head of environment services at Cheshire East Council, said: “This new facility from Biowise is an important part of our waste strategy as we seek to increase our recycling towards our 65 per cent target.
“Based within Cheshire East, the plant allows us to collect, process and recycle locally, helping residents to reduce residual food and garden waste.
"The plant also produces a superb, high quality compost product whilst providing additional benefits and jobs for the local community.”
Now that all commissioning tests have been completed, the facility has the capacity to process up to 75,000 tonnes per annum of food and garden waste.
Over 95 per cent of the waste inputs will be recycled into compost for use in horticultural, agricultural and landscaping markets.
The remaining, small percentage of waste will be recycled or sent for energy recovery.
James Landau, managing director of Biowise, said: “The new facility is already processing 45,000 tonnes per annum of organic waste brought in from the Cheshire East area and we are actively seeking additional contracts to fill the spare capacity.”
Biowise, which is based in Willerby, Hull, secured a multi-million pound funding package from Yorkshire Bank to assist with the build of this new facility.
Following a successful period of growth, the company continues to seek opportunities to broaden its waste-processing infrastructure, which includes materials recycling, biomass and alternative fuel production facilities.
Michael Wheatley has recently joined the operations team to support this growth.
