Viridor closes landfills to utilise more non-recyclable waste

After 35 years of service, Viridor's Ardley landfill site in Oxfordshire, UK will no longer be taking hazardous waste.

From now on, non-hazardous waste will now be taken into Viridor's adjacent energy recovery facility (ERF). The £205 million (€283 million) facility has capacity to treat 300,000 tonnes per year of waste – sufficient to treat all of Oxfordshire's residual municipal waste. The waste will be transformed into 26MW of electricity, generating enough electricity for about 38,000 homes.

The Household Waste Recycling Centre (HWRC), which Viridor operates on behalf of Oxfordshire County Council, will remain open for local residents to use and is not affected by the closure of Ardley landfill.

In similar news, Viridor's Wangford landfill site in Suffolk will also close to all waste after 23 years of operation. The site closed to waste acceptance on 31 March and will now undergo a period of restoration which will be completed by the end of 2016. Waste will now be re-directed to nearby Masons landfill, also operated by Viridor.

Henry Austin, area unit manager for Viridor, says: 'It's time to recognise that we should be looking at our non-recyclable waste as a resource that can be put to use. The closure of a landfill such as Ardley is an important milestone in the ongoing efforts to drive value from our waste hierarchy. Using residual waste to generate electricity is ensuring we're maximising every available opportunity and will see counties like Oxfordshire further reduce its carbon footprint.'

 

SOURCE: Viridor