Eastcroft - The Future

The original design for Eastcroft included scope for extension on the site, to ensure that the facility would be able to meet local demands in the future.

The facility currently manages 150,000 tonnes a year of non-hazardous waste through 2 operational lines within the plant. When the plant was designed, space was left for a third and fourth line to be added in the future.

Waste in Nottingham and the county continues to grow year on year and although improvements are being made in recycling, there is still a vast amount of waste to manage. In 1998/99 the city and county together produced more than 600,000 tonnes of municipal waste (including from local households) and a further 3 million tonnes of waste from businesses. All of this has to go somewhere.

Landfills in the county have been taking the majority of this waste, but they are filling up. Further, there are clear National and European policies to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill.

One option is to extend capacity at the energy from waste facility, so that more waste can be taken to generate useful heat and power and the need for landfill can be reduced.

Waste Recycling Group submitted a planning application for a third line at Eastcroft, capable of managing a further 100,000 tonnes a year of local waste. This application was refused by the Council's Planning Committee In September 2006, for a single reason, that it hindered regeneration of the surrounding area. To respond positively to the Council's concern, WRG decided to submit a new application in August 2007.

The planning application was not determined within the sixteen week period in which local authorities must consider major planning applications. Therefore, WRG submitted an appeal in December 2007 and the planning application will now be determined by an independent inspector at a planning inquiry.

For more general information on the use of Energy from Waste technology, download the report by Enviros using the link below.

Enviros Report on EfW

Compost