Ground breaking ceremony for Barrow waste treatment plant

Work is now underway on the second of the county`s two new mechanical biological treatment (MBT) plants at Sowerby Woods Business Park in Barrow.

The MBT plant now being built at Sowerby Woods is set to be up and running by 2013, with the Northern Resource Park at Hespin Wood near Carlisle -where work started last autumn - coming into service around 2012.

The 25-year contract, worth more than £700million, between Shanks and Cumbria County Council -which was finalised in June 2009 -will see much of the county`s waste sent to MBT plants at Barrow and Hespin Wood.

MBT is a sustainable and progressive waste technology and the deal with Shanks means the amount of rubbish sent to landfill will fall by a massive 80 per cent -leading to a major reduction in the amount of methane the county produces and will save Cumbria shelling out millions of pounds in landfill fines.

As part of the 25-year agreement Shanks are also developing and managing Cumbria`s fourteen Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs).

Cllr Tim Knowles, Cumbria County Council`s cabinet member for waste management, said: "The introduction of MBT technology will revolutionise the way we deal with waste in Cumbria and ensure we have a greener, more cost-effective system of managing rubbish for years to come. Sending large amounts of waste to landfill is quite simply no longer a viable option.

"I`m delighted building work is now getting underway in Barrow as on the back of construction of the plant near Carlisle that started last year -where the development is progressing to plan - this really marks a big step forward in our adoption of MBT technology."

Ian Goodfellow, Managing Director of Shanks Waste Management says: "We are delighted to be marking the commencement of the construction of the Barrow MBT facility. This development is the final part of a solution which will enable Cumbria to divert up to 80% of the household waste it produces from landfill."