After weeks of planning, the Battlefield Energy Recovery Facility flung open its doors on Saturday 13 May so that local residents could have a look behind the scenes of Veolia’s state of the art Energy Recovery Facility and find out where their waste goes to.
Over 100 people visited the site from across Shropshire. Visitors saw the control room where the operators operate the facility including the monitoring equipment which ensures that we keep to the strict environmental conditions set out by the Environment Agency. From the control room, the visitors could also see the storage bunker where waste is fed into the furnace. The storage bunker can hold over 1000 tonnes of waste. From the control room, the visitors then went inside the facility where they took a look inside the furnace to view the fire that burns rubbish at temperatures exceeding 850 degrees centigrade.
Next stop on the tour was the turbine hall where heat energy from the furnace is turned into the electrical energy. Here the visitors also learnt that not only does the facility divert 90,000 tonnes of waste from landfill but also produces approximately 8MW of electricity for the National Grid.
One visitor said: “I was surprised by all the computer systems and how clean it all was.” Whilst another commented “It was great to look around and see what happens inside a building we drive past every day. The kids particularly liked having a go at the crane which picks up the rubbish!”
The children also had the opportunity to look around a bin lorry.
Speaking about the event Steve Mitchell, Director for Veolia said:
"We are delighted that so many local people took up our invitation to come along and see how Battlefield Energy Recovery Facility operates. We always encourage the local community to find out more about where their waste ends up and holding open days like this is just one way we do this. We are pleased that the people who came along on the day found the experience an enjoyable and informative event and that so many children attended."
The facility holds tours of the facility every Wednesday. For further details of how to book, please contact Hilary Hampton on 0203 567 6315 or email [email protected]