Sustainability

Breaking news: Organic Recycling Ltd is delighted to announce that on 12th April 2011 Lincolnshire County Council granted permission to extend the facilities at the Energy and Recycling Park at Decoy Farm. Download our brochure - click here.

Environmental impact

Visual impact – The site will be surrounded by a six metre high landscaped bund which will reduce the impact. The buildings themselves will only be visible from the road and will be constructed using a grey coloured cladding which will blend with the fenland sky, also reducing the visual impact of the site.

Environmental impact – The ground water at the site will be channelled into water treatment plants and reed beds in the lagoons will also help to filter the ground water. Surface water will be collected using a rainwater harvesting system and reused – for example, for irrigation in the greenhouses . All the systems will be subject to regular rigorous engineering inspections to ensure that they are working to their optimum capacities.

Ecology – Careful ecological and archaeological examinations of the site have been carried out. Nothing of great significance has been noted and the impact of the new technologies on the area is therefore minimal.

Odour – The biggest concern that most people will have is with any odour that could be given off by the composting processes. Our new plans will improve the existing process at the site. Volatile compounds that give off odour will brought under cover and the air will be treated to remove odour before it is released through special filters. Methane that is presently lost in the atmosphere and contributes to any odours currently produced will be aerobically treated and passed through a control filter to remove odours.

We will have two separate filters to remove odour, each large enough to deal with the output of the entire plant, so that we can continue to operate while carrying out planned maintenance on one filter. It also means we always have a ‘back up’ if there is a problem with one of the filters.

The whole process will be automated to create another level of control. Optimum temperatures will be maintained to control the maturation process, which again will assist in reducing and removing odours from the atmosphere.

Traffic

Once complete and running at full capacity the Energy and Recycling Plant could generate an average of 100 vehicle movements per day. Vehicles will include up to 75 HGVs and 25 cars and light haulage vehicles.

The new Spalding to Eye by-pass will be fully functional and the existing A1073 will be re-classified as a ‘C’ road. Levels of traffic on this road will be dramatically reduced as a result.

The road infrastructure is therefore excellent and, although movements to the site will increase, the net overall effect will be a reduction in the environmental impact of waste that is already in the road system. Waste that is currently being transported some distance to a variety of landfill and treatment sites will now only travel short distances from where it is produced to our facility.

Economy & employment

There are currently 18 people employed at the site. Once the new technologies are in place the number employed by ORL will increase to around 30. This has positive benefits for the local economy.

Local companies are currently sending their waste as far away as Bedfordshire for processing. With the creation of the new plant they will be able to dispose of the waste locally, reducing road miles, their carbon footprints and their costs as a result.

Electricity generated from renewables on the site will produce enough electricity to feed back into the grid and power 1,400 homes, the equivalent of about half of the nearby village of Crowland. In addition, the processes will produce around 30,000 tonnes of useful materials that can be sold, providing a viable ongoing business employing local people.

The whole construction project will cost something in the region of £14 million and will provide work for sub-contractors in various trades.

Environmental benefits

All of the products produced at the site will be sold. The soil conditioners are peat free and the organic soil conditioners replace artificial fertilisers.

Agriculture can benefit because 20 tonnes of conditioner per hectare applied to the soil in years one and three have the same effect on the soil as incorporating chopped straw over a period of 30 years. Less chemical fertiliser is used, the land is easier to work and yields are improved as a result.

Construction of the new site will mean that 150,000 tonnes of waste in Lincolnshire is being diverted from landfill each year.