A £3 MILLION waste transfer station has been officially opened near York, capable of handling 75,000 tonnes of rubbish a year.

The Yorwaste complex at Harewood Whin, Rufforth, will sort and bulk waste from households across the York and Selby districts and from Yorwaste commercial customers, before it is sent to the massive new incinerator being built near the A1 at Allerton, between York and Knaresborough.

The £1.4 billion Allerton Waste Recovery Park (AWRP) is due to start accepting waste later this month, which will be recovered into renewable energy.

Yorwaste managing director Steve Barker said that with the opening of the AWRP , it was essential to have a facility nearby where waste could be sorted and bulked.

“We are therefore delighted that the waste transfer station, which is the best of its kind in the country, has opened on schedule, just as Allerton Park becomes fully operational,” he said.

“It means our local authority and commercial customers will have access to a state-of-the-art facility which, because of its location, will provide greater value for money and help them meet their environmental responsibilities through landfill diversion and more recycling and recovery of waste.”

He said the facility could not have been built without the support of the local community, City of York Council, architects Vincent and Gorbing and contractor Seymour Civil Engineering.

“These are very exciting times for Yorwaste as we continue to expand and cement our position as the leading waste management company in North Yorkshire,” he added.

“The completion of the waste transfer station takes our investment to over £10 million in the last few months, after we also took over management of North Yorkshire County Council’s household waste recycling centres and acquired Todd Waste Management.”

Kevin Byrne, managing director of Seymour Civil Engineering, said the Yorwaste project had several constraints, including time and working alongside an operational facility, but it had been very successful.

The Lord Mayor of York, Cllr Barbara Boyce, pressed the button which opened the doors to the transfer station, enabling the first waste collection vehicle to enter to deposit waste.

She said: “I have followed the building of this facility with interest and it’s fantastic to be part of something which will help to recycle and recover even more of York’s waste.”

The incinerator - with a chimney almost as high as York Minster’s Central Tower - is set to become fully operational by early next year.