A PIONEERING company which sterilises household waste before recycling it is set to double the size of its operations, creating 20 new jobs in Rotherham.
Waste recycling technology business Sterecycle already employs 34 people at its hi-tech plant, on the site of a former British Steel works in Rotherham.
Now, the firm has announced plans to invest a further £10 million to increase the plant's capa
city, enabling it to process 200,000 tonnes of waste a year – the amount of waste produced by a town of 400,000 people.
Chief executive Duncan Grierson said: "With the Rotherham plant now operational, Sterecycle has achieved a world first by bringing this clean technology to commercial use in the waste management industry.
"The granting of planning permission to double our capacity is a further endorsement of our technology and strategy. We are delighted that we will be able to strengthen the local economy with the creation of further jobs as well as contribute to Yorkshire's successful recycling efforts.
"Our technology offers a clean alternative to the landfilling of waste and produces a terrific material for the generation of renewable energy. As such, Sterecycle provides a benchmark for new solutions to the problem of household waste."
Sterecycle has a seven-year contract to process waste for Rotherham, Doncaster and Barnsley councils and is expected to reach its current annual capacity of 100,000 tonnes by Spring 2009.
Unsorted household and commercial waste is sterilised by being sealed into giant ovens, called autoclaves. Pressure inside the autoclaves is increased and steam is pumped in while the ovens are rotated.
Organic waste is broken down into a fibre which has a number of uses including generating renewable energy, land restoration and even for making cardboard boxes.
Sterilised non-organic waste is easily separated from the fibre and can then be sent for recycling and the volume of the waste is reduced by anything up to 70 per cent.
Sterecycle says the combination of steam and autoclaving has been used on a relatively small scale in the past for sterilising medical waste and its development for processing household waste is being driven bypressure on local councils to find green alternatives to burying waste in landfill sites.
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