Waste bulking station Telford plan may be scrapped

Plans for a plant to deal with rubbish in Telford, which supporters claim could bring £2 million a year into council coffers, could be scrapped, it was claimed today.

The £4 million waste bulking station, planned to be based at the Rail Freight Terminal in Donnington, would prevent the need for burying the borough's refuse at landfill sites. Plans were being drawn up for handling the waste.

Waste would be collected together before either being dealt with at an existing incinerator or sold on the open market under the plans.

Wrekin Conservative leader, Councillor Andrew Eade, said the plant would save Telford & Wrekin Council about £450,000 a year in landfill charges and produce an income of more than £2 million a year by selling recycled materials. But today he claimed funding for the plant had been scrapped.

Councillor Shaun Davies, cabinet member for the environment at the authority, today said savings needed to be found and all options were being considered.

He said: "The whole waste strategy is certainly being reviewed and all options are on the table. But Councillor Eade needs to explain where, in a time when the council is having to cut £40 million from its budget, he would find all the extra money he wants to spend on various projects."

Councillor Eade said scrapping the plant would be short-sighted.

He said: "We had a very clear policy on waste which included successful opposition to a proposed incinerator in the borough and, with simply dumping waste costing the council millions in landfill charges, we decided to provide a state-of-the-art recycling and bulking facility to allow waste disposal in an existing incinerator.

"Although requiring a substantial initial investment of £4m, this would be quickly recouped by selling recycled material and dealing with trade waste which together after running costs would have poured over £2m million every year into council coffers."