One million megawatts of energy recovered from EnviRecover

This is enough to power nearly 40,000 homes per year since opening!

To celebrate this fantastic achievement, Councillors from Worcestershire County Council and Herefordshire Council, along with key people from FCC Environment and Severn Waste Services, who run the facility on the Councils’ behalf, gathered on Friday 13 September for a small event. This involved planting a tree on site to commemorate the milestone.

The EnviRecover Energy from Waste facility processes around 210,000 tonnes of non-recyclable waste each year. This is the equivalent average weight of over three million full, large wheelie bins and is made up of around 170,000 tonnes of waste picked up from residents and 40,000 tonnes of commercial waste from across Worcestershire and Herefordshire.

This waste is then processed to produce energy that is then sold back to National Grid.

Prior to this facility coming into action seven years ago, all of this waste would have been sent to landfill.

The facility also provides around 40 permanent jobs across a wide range of skills.

Commenting on the facility, Councillor Emma Stokes, Worcestershire County Council’s Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Environment, said: “The presence of the facility in the county has a number of positive benefits: reducing waste being sent to landfill, producing power, and providing jobs.

“We are 26 years into what has been, and continues to be, a great partnership with Severn Waste Services. Whilst our overall aim is always to support residents across the region to reduce waste of any kind wherever possible, we look forward to our future as we generate more energy from waste that can’t be recycled, for the benefit of local communities.”

Councillor Elissa Swinglehurst, Herefordshire Council’s Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Environment said about the event: “It’s fantastic to be part of this event to celebrate this amazing achievement. Since the facility opened seven years ago, our county has seen many benefits of EnviRecover. The amount of waste that is sent to landfill has drastically decreased as even the non-recyclable materials are able to be put to good use by being processed at EnviRecover to produce energy benefit to society as a whole.”

Severn Waste Services is the public face of resident collected waste management in Worcestershire and Herefordshire, operating facilities for sister company, Mercia Waste Management. An initial 25-year contract with Worcestershire County Council and Herefordshire Council was signed in December 1998 under the Private Finance Initiative (PFI). The contract was then extended for a further five years in 2023. This contract provides an integrated waste management service, leading to more sustainable and effective management of waste across the two counties.

Steve Longdon, Chief Executive of FCC Environment said: “We are extremely proud to have reached this very significant milestone. EnviRecover has been diverting waste from landfill for seven years and converting to energy is a real achievement for the residents of H and W. We are focused on continuing to exceed performance expectations in our successful partnership with the Councils as we carry on creating valuable electricity, jobs and community support for the county.”