Telford medical waste treatment plant approved by planners
Nearly 25,000 tons of waste from hospitals, GP surgeries, dental practices and other health facilities will be processed annually at a converted warehouse in Telford, after planners granted permission.
Stericycle, the UK’s largest provider of healthcare waste services, intends to close its existing facility near Cannock, and applied to use the three-acre site on Stafford Park 18 in Telford to replace it.
Plans say the site, which centres on a 3,600-square-metre warehouse, will operate 24 hours a day and see 38 HGVs arrive and leave every day.
Treated waste will be converted into solid fuel for use in industry.
Telford & Wrekin Council’s planning department approved the company’s change-of-use permission.
A planning statement, prepared by Pegasus Group on behalf of Stericycle, said: “The site consists of a building with a 3,613 square metre warehouse and 263 square metres of office space.
“Stericycle continues to grow its business and provide a range of services to a diverse group of customers within the public and private sector, including NHS trusts, GPs, dentists, pharmaceutical providers, private sector businesses, research companies and many more.
Employ
“Principally, this planning application seeks permission to change the use of the existing warehouse premises to a healthcare waste treatment plant and transfer site.”
The site will employ up to 69 people, with up to 44 of these working at the same time.
“The development proposed on the application site will be a replacement of an existing facility operated by the applicant at Station Road, Four Ashes, which is due to cease operation during 2020,” the statement added.
“There would be 38 commercial vehicles booked in and out daily at the site, all of which are HGVs ranging from 7.5 to 26 tonnes.
“The treatment facility would have an annual throughput of 17,500 tons of hazardous waste and 7,300 tonnes of non-hazardous waste.
“The waste will be transported to and from the site and stored in fully-enclosed leak-proof containers, which will prevent the release of odours to the environment.
“The residual waste generated by the treatment process will be sent off-site for industry use as a solid recovered fuel.”
