Odour management agreement struck by autoclave facility in Rotherham

An odour management agreement has been struck by an autoclave facility in Rotherham, after recycling firm Sterecycle experienced problems with its waste treatment plant.

The Environment Agency was forced to step in after officers expressed concern about the amount of time Sterecycle have had to spend dealing with odour issues at the plant. Now, a deal has finally been struck between the two organisations, which includes a new odour management programme which will see a number of measures adopted by the Canadian-owned firm.

Capacity of the plant using autoclaves has been increased from 100,000 tonnes per annum to 175,000 tonnes. However, the plant has experienced significant problems with odour in the past, and several local residents and businesses have submitted complaints to the Environment Agency about the issue.

Joanne Holt, environment management team leader for the Environment Agency, said: "We have received odour complaints about Sterecycle from residents and local businesses and are committed to improving the odour problems. The time spent on regulating the site is very intensive for our officers and resolving the issue is one of our highest priorities."

The local authority, Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council, added to the comments, saying: "We have discussed the odour problems with the Environment Agency. We have regular operational meetings with Sterecycle and our concerns have been made known to them."

It is hoped that the new odour management programme will resolve most of the problems experienced at the site. Tom Shields, chief executive of Sterecycle, told letsrecycle.com that the company had acknowledged there were problems at the plant.

He said: "We have developed an odour abatement programme which we have worked on with the EA. This includes fitting some further controlled evacuation, increasing the air change by three times. We are going to put air curtains in addition to the doors to help control air movement when vehicles deliver waste."

Posted by Claire Manning