DON'T WASTE THIS CHANCE; Environmental campaigners call for pioneer plant in city.

Byline: By Jenny Waddington

THIS is the state-of-theart waste treatment plant which environmental campaigners want to see in Coventry.

The multi-million pound mechanical biological treatment (MBT) facility is being favoured by campaigners instead of the city's proposed incinerator.

Friends of the Earth (FoE) is urging officers at Coventry City Council to follow the example of Norfolk - where the ground-breaking project is being developed.

The plant, the first of its kind in the country, is hailed as safe, fully enclosed, clean and green, requiring no chimneys and no burning of waste.

This week, councillors agreed to ask the government for funds to build a new waste plant in Coventry - which green campaigners say will be double the size of the existing plant in Whitley.

They say the incinerator could create twice as much traffic as that created by the current London Road centre and double the emissions of toxic gases.

They say the council should instead be looking at alternative methods of waste disposal.

FoE has called for the council to look at greener alternatives like the one at Norfolk.

Jane Green, of Coventry's FoE, said: "This is a fantastic facility which would be a much better option than the proposed incinerator for the city.

"We need to look at other options which are more environmentally friendly and would benefit the future generations of Coventry."

MBT is the latest technology, which maximises recycling and the reuse of materials by a process which is basically composting in sealed tanks.

It could also recover methane gas which can be used to generate electricity.

The Norfolk waste facility was designed by Sustainable Resource Management - owned by Norfolk Environmental Waste Services, which was set up by the county council.

The process works by grading and separating waste and using highly mechanised pre-treatment screens and infrared technology to remove all material that can be recycled, such as plastics, paper and metals.

The biodegradable material which remains goes to a gravity-fed dry anaerobic digestion area where the material is composted in an enclosed, airtight environment for three weeks.

Then the produce is screened to remove inert sands and minerals, which can be recycled.

It is then aerobically composted to fully stabilise the end products - electricity will be made by putting gases created by the process through generators.

An SRN spokesman said: "Behind this exciting development is a complete change in thinking about general waste.

"This material, which we all generate, is no longer something that is simply to be disposed of. Instead, it is a valuable resource that can be recovered, recycled and reused."

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CLEAN AND GREEN... An artists' impression of the ground-breaking waste treatment plant being developed in Norfolk.