Torbay Council is pleased to announce that the commissioning work at the Energy from Waste facility at North Yard, Devonport is nearing completion.

On Friday 15 May the first fire of household waste successfully took place - a very important part of the process.

As part of the South West Devon Waste Partnership (with Devon County Council and Plymouth City Council), Torbay has jointly commissioned the plant to replace the need for landfill of residual waste. The new plant is designed to accept 245,000 tonnes of waste per annum of which Torbay expects to deliver around 34,000 tonnes each year.

The Partnership will deliver its residual household waste to the new plant for the next twenty five years, generating energy to be supply the Dock Yard Naval Base through a combined heat and power system and energy for the grid.

The Mayor of Torbay said “We are very pleased to have reached this important milestone in commissioning the plant and it is a great example of partnership working to reduce our costs.

“However, we must not become complacent and must remember that this does not replace the need to recycle. Torbay currently recycles 42% of its household waste, but we need to achieve 50% by 2020. We have a comprehensive kerbside recycling system in the Bay for materials such as paper, glass, card, plastic, food waste, textiles and mobile phones. I would encourage all our residents to help improve Torbay's overall recycling performance, particularly for food waste.”

For more information about recycling and waste visit www.torbay.gov.uk/waste