About The Eco Park

What is proposed?

The Green Lane Eco Park is aimed at contributing to sustainable waste management in the Greater Manchester area by treating and managing around 240,000 tonnes per year of local business waste through a combination of facilities:

• A Materials Recovery Facility (MRF), with a capacity of around 100,000 tonnes per year, to sort and extract dry recyclable materials such as paper, cardboard, glass and cans ready for reprocessing into new products. For further information on MRFs, please use the following link www.wrap.org.uk
• An Anaerobic Digestion plant (AD), with a capacity of around 60,000 tonnes per year, to process food and other biodegradable waste to generate renewable energy. For further information on AD, please use the following link www.biogas-info.co.uk
• An Energos Gasification plant, with a capacity of around 80,000 tonnes per year, to convert residual, non-recyclable waste into renewable energy in the form of heat and power. For further information on Gasification, please use the following link www.energos.com

Why do we need it?

There are numerous economic, financial and environmental reasons at the national, regional and local level as to why this facility is required:

• Landfill is becoming a very expensive option and tough EU and UK targets mean as much waste as possible must be diverted from landfill for financial and environmental reasons
• It is essential to recycle as many valuable resources as possible instead of just throwing these materials into landfill sites, and where they can’t be recycled, to recover energy from them
• The UK must meet renewable energy targets, and energy generated from waste that can’t be recycled can help the local area to become more self-sufficient in producing its own energy
• Managing waste in this way will support local businesses and provide direct employment for up to 60 people once operational and many more indirectly, and the local community will benefit from a £70M investment

When the facility will be built and operational?

Subject to the grant of planning permission, it is anticipated that the construction would commence in 2010/2011 and would last for 24 months. Construction would normally take place during the hours of 0700 to 1800 (Monday to Friday) and 0800 to 1300 (Saturday). No construction would take place on Sundays or bank holidays.