Sweet smell of success for waste plant’s neighbours (From York Press)

Sweet smell of success for waste plant’s neighbours

6:10pm Friday 31st October 2008 in News By Richard Catton, richard.catton@thepress.co.uk

A BATTLE to put an end to unpleasant odours from a recycling and waste plant has ended with the sweet smell of success for the site’s neighbours.

Councillors representing residents living close to the Harewood Whin site, in Rufforth, say they have assurances from the Environment Agency that the smells will come to an end next week.

Remedial work on a gas transmission pipe is expected to be completed by Monday. Owners of the plant, YorWaste, have also announced they have received planning permission to start work on building electricity generators which will be fuelled by gasses produced at the site.

Phil Bedford, YorWaste’s divisional director for York, said: “We are obviously delighted to have the green light to install these new engines. Hopefully, they will be up- and-running and connected to the grid by the beginning of the new year.”

The generators will be fuelled by landfill gas which currently has to be flared off, to prevent it causing unpleasant smells for nearby residents.

Work on installing the new generators begins in December and the plant will be connected to the national grid in February.

The three extra units will double the generating capacity at the site and produce enough energy to power more than 6,000 homes.

City of York Councillor Tracey Simpson-Laing said: “I sincerely hope that this is the end of the problems residents have been suffering over the last two years.

“On some days the smell can be enough to make people physically ill. I am concerned that this has taken so long to get sorted out, but my main concern now is the future. “Harewood Whin is a large site and the issues concerning methane will be with us for a long time.”

Harewood Whin handles 40,000 tonnes of waste each year. An audit of the site’s permit conditions is expected to be undertaken by November 10.