Suffolk County Council has announced today that the highways maintenance depot site has been identified in Great Blakenham as a potential location for dealing with Suffolk’s growing waste problem.

Suffolk County Council, who are the Waste Disposal Authority, have made the site available to potential bidders for all those who may be interested in putting forward proposals for the future processing of waste within Suffolk.

The County Councils development control committee will not make the final decision on the location until the latter part of 2011 and the facility itself will not be in operation until 2014 at the earliest.

Cllr Roy Barker Portfolio Holder for Waste and Environmental Services said “Mid Suffolk District has the highest record of recycling in the country with an excellent record of waste management. Although we are recycling 40% and composting potentially 20% of the waste in Suffolk, which is one of the best rates in the country, the current landfill facility is reaching its capacity in Suffolk and we still have 40% of waste to deal with in the most efficient and environmentally friendly way as possible.

If this new site is developed consideration needs to given to the control of local traffic movements and what technology can be put in place to recycle the energy produced from the waste site.

Energy costs to our residents are steadily increasing. A facility to generate power from household residue waste (after recycling and composting elements are recovered) will complement other forms of energy generation in the county (wind power, solar power and even wave power).

We would like to see the energy and hot water generated, being at any new waste disposal site, recycled to power homes and businesses in the local area and we will be expecting a full environmental impact assessment with the planning application.

We must not forget that the main message, to ‘Reduce, Reuse and Recycle’ comes first and secondly deal with the remainder of waste in the most efficient and environmentally friendly way”.