WELCOME TO THE SECOND PUBLIC EXHIBITION ON PROPOSALS FOR THE SUFFOLK ENERGY-FROM-WASTE FACILITY

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1 WELCOME TO THE SECOND PUBLIC EXHIBITION ON PROPOSALS FOR THE SUFFOLK ENERGY-FROM-WASTE FACILITY Following the first round of exhibitions held in Great Blakenham earlier in the year, SITA UK would like to update the local community on the progress of the proposals for the new energy-from-waste facility at the Highways Depot site on Lodge Lane, Great Blakenham. This second exhibition is designed to provide more information on the proposals, including results of the technical surveys, photo montages showing how the facility will look from different angles and a 3D model of the facility. We look forward to hearing your views. SITA UK SITA UK is a leading recycling and resource management company. We deliver sustainable and innovative solutions for the public, local government, industry and commerce, enabling our customers to minimise the impact of their waste on the environment. In the UK we provide recycling and waste management services to 12 million people and over 40,000 businesses, handling more than nine million tonnes of domestic, commercial and industrial waste per year. SITA UK currently operates three energy-from-waste facilities in the UK in Kirklees, Tees Valley and the Isle of Man.

2 A NEW WAY TO MANAGE SUFFOLK S WASTE Despite the efforts of the Suffolk community to reduce, reuse and recycle their waste, Suffolk produced 384,000 tonnes of municipal (mainly household) waste last year, of which over 200,000 tonnes went to landfill. Businesses in Suffolk also produce more than 1,000,000 tonnes of waste each year and a significant amount of this is also landfilled. This is not sustainable for the future, as:» sending waste to landfill will cost council tax payers at least 100 a tonne by 2014 (landfill tax and handling charges)» councils have strict new targets to reduce the amount of waste they send to landfill and will be fined 150 per tonne if targets are missed» landfill space is in short supply less than eight years of capacity remain in Suffolk» WASTE PREVENTION Energy-from-waste was chosen by SITA UK as the most appropriate technology to end Suffolk s reliance on landfill to dispose of the waste collected by Suffolk s councils.» RE-USE» RECYCLE / COMPOST The facility would treat waste that s left over after recycling and composting, dealing with waste in accordance with the waste hierarchy. It would also support Suffolk s aspiration to be the greenest county.» ENERGY RECOVERY» DISPOSAL

3 THE PROPOSALS SITA UK is proposing to develop an energy-from-waste facility that will use proven technology to generate energy from approximately 269,000 tonnes of leftover, non-recycled waste per year. The facility is not proposed as an alternative to reusing, recycling and composting, but offers a practical solution for disposing of residual waste in a controlled way, while generating a reliable and sustainable source of energy. The facility would include:» an internal waste reception and handling hall to collect waste received at the site» the main energy-from-waste facility which burns waste, converting the energy contained in the residual waste into electrical energy» a bottom ash processing facility to treat the ash remaining at the end of the burning process so it can be reused as an aggregate and to recover any ferrous metals When fully operational the facility would generate up to 20 MW of electricity (net export) enough to power 30,000 homes or a town around the size of Lowestoft.» a visitor centre for community use which will give local schools and members of the public the opportunity to learn more about waste management, and provide a venue for local community organisations to meet» a landscaped nature area and wetland area to encourage new wildlife

4 THE BENEFITS FOR SUFFOLK Visitor centre: SITA UK plans to develop a community visitor centre at the site which can be used for presentations to raise awareness of sustainable waste management. In the evenings, the centre would be available for use by the community. The centre would include a lecture and display area and would be run by a visitor centre manager who can offer visits to local schools, groups and other interested parties. The energy-from-waste facility would:» divert 250,000 tonnes of waste from landfill per year to meet government targets and reduce potential future costs for treating Suffolk s waste» generate enough electricity to power around 30,000 homes equivalent to a town the size of Lowestoft» potentially export heat to provide hot water and heating for local businesses» help Suffolk s aspiration to become the greenest county by saving the equivalent of over 75,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide every year (according to Environment Agency calculations)» ensure that more of Suffolk s energy needs are provided by non-fossil fuel powered energy sources» represent an investment of 180 million in Suffolk EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES The facility would create around 43 jobs long-term and 250 temporary construction jobs. The permanent jobs at the proposed facility would include both skilled and semi-skilled long-term opportunities with roles ranging from shift managers, education staff, maintenance personnel, crane operators, security and office based administrative personnel. SITE BOUNDARY

5 c f rna ce ench bath d y an e very tu e. g y e The gases of treat ment an external HOW DOES IT WORK? The proposed energy-from-waste facility will work by burning the waste left after recycling and composting to recover energy under carefully controlled conditions. The waste is burned at high temperatures and the heat used to make steam, which drives a turbine to generate electricity. This process of energy recovery is currently used across 25 locations in the UK and 420 across Europe. WHY ENERGY-FROM-WASTE? Suffolk County Council favours energy-from-waste as a good environmental choice and a cost-effective option for dealing with residual waste in the county. Rather than regarding residual waste as something that should be disposed of, we can use it as a valuable resource to generate a sustainable and reliable supply of power. 1. Waste Waste collection collection vehicles vehicles unload unload waste waste into into a a bunker bunker where where it it is is stored stored and and mixed mixed for for even even burning burning in in the the furnace. furnace. 2. Air Air is is drawn drawn from from the the waste waste reception reception hall hall and and supplied supplied to to the the furnace furnace as as combustion combustion air, air, which which helps helps to to control control odours odours in in the the waste waste reception reception hall. hall. 3. Waste Waste is is loaded loaded by by a a crane crane into into a a feed feed hopper. hopper. The The waste waste then then travels travels down down a a chute chute into into the the furnace. furnace. 4. Inside Inside the the furnace, furnace, wast waste e is is dried dried and and burned burned at at a a temperature temperature of of around around 1,000 C. 1,000 C. 5. Burning Burning waste waste in in the the furnace furnace produces produces hot hot gases gases that that travel travel through through the the boiler, boiler, transferring transferring heat heat to to the the water water running running though though the the boiler boiler pipes. pipes. The The hot hot water water is is turned turned to to steam steam and and the the steam steam drives drives a a turbine turbine that that generates generates the the electricity. electricity. It s It s at at this this point point that that some some of of the the heat heat could could be be taken taken off off and and used used by by neighbouring neighbouring commercial commercial and and industrial industrial operations. operations. 6. The The ash ash leaving leaving the the bottom bottom of of the the furnace passes passes through through a a water water quench quen ch bath bat to to cool cool it it and and is is then then transferred rred by an enclosed enclosed conveyor conveyor to to the the ash ash recovery plant plant where where ferrous ferrou ro s and a nd non-ferrous non-ferrous metals metals are are recovered. recovered. The The ash ash is is then then screened screened and and graded aded prior prior to to export export for for use use as as an an aggregate grega gate substitute. stitut 7. Gases Gases from fro m burnt burnt waste waste are are thoroughly thoroughl cleaned cleaned by by a a gas gas cleaning cleaning system. syst stem. The gases pass pass through through several se sever al stages sta ges of of treatment before before being being released released through through an an external stack. stack. All All emissions emissions are are controlled controlled to to rigorous rigorous European European standards standards which which are are far far more more stringent stringent than than for for fossil fossil fuel fuel based based power power generation. generation. Collected Collected particles particles from from the the fabric fabric filter filter are are stored stored in in a a silo silo before before being being sent sent for for specialist specialist treatment treatment and and disposal.

6 WHERE IS THE SITE? The proposed facility would be located at the county council s 3.8 hectare Highways Depot on Lodge Lane in Great Blakenham. The site is located approximately 900 metres south of the village of Great Blakenham, 200 metres to the nearest houses on Chapel Lane and 500 metres to the edge of Claydon. WHY HAS THIS SITE BEEN CHOSEN? The Highways Depot site was chosen following an extensive 16-month public consultation into Suffolk County Council s Waste Core Strategy. Four sites were recommended as suitable for strategic residual waste treatment facilities with the former Highways Depot site at Great Blakenham being chosen as a suitable site for an energy-from-waste facility. The sites identified for strategic residual waste treatment have been examined at the recent Waste Core Strategy Examination in Public, including the Highways Depot. It is anticipated that the Inspector will report on findings from the Examination in Public later on this year, before the planning application is submitted. P d siт нр -f- т

7 WHAT WILL THE FACILITY LOOK LIKE? Working with world renowned architects Grimshaw Architectural Practice, SITA UK has proposed an innovative design for the facility, which takes into account the surrounding landscape. The proposed facility responds to the site s unique setting and is sensitive to the local countryside and community. The facility will be situated on the former Highways Depot which is industrial in character. The existing buildings will be removed and replaced with a high-quality building and landscaping, including planting of native species of plants, trees and hedges. A new wetland area and an extensive meadow in the north of the site will allow the site to support increased biodiversity. In addition, the majority of trees bordering the site will be retained. The images provided show the scale of the facility from viewpoints at Chapel Lane and Claydon. More information is available from the exhibition team on viewpoints and views, including a photomontage that has been prepared to show what the building will look like from the eastern end of Chapel Lane. Please note that the energy-from-waste facility is shown in grey on these computer-generated images. The building design includes partial screening at the top of the facility to help blend it into the sky and will feature rainwater harvesting to reuse collected rainwater, minimising use of fresh water. A thorough assessment of the visual impact of the facility has been undertaken from key viewpoints agreed with Suffolk County Council, as well as a series of viewpoints from further away, including listed buildings, parks and gardens, as agreed with Suffolk County Council in consultation with Mid Suffolk District Council. The assessment of effects on views has concentrated on views for residents at Chapel Lane and Claydon, users of the Gipping Valley River Path, the local rights of way network and users of the B1113. C פl L e t C t

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10 TRAFFIC AND TRANSPORT At the last exhibition a number of attendees raised concerns about the potential increase in traffic that the facility could create. A full Transport Assessment has now been completed this includes consideration of transport issues should SnOasis be built. The table below shows that the total number of vehicle trips to and from the site will be lower if the energy-from-waste facility is developed than when the Highways Depot was operating*. However, the level of HGV trips both in construction and operation would be marginally higher. The assessment shows that the energy-from-waste facility would generate less traffic than the former Highways Depot, although there would be a slight increase in the number of HGVs. The facility will generate 216 two-way HGV movements a day, which surveys show the local and county wide road network is able to accommodate. The facility is well located close to the strategic trunk road network and HGVs will have to follow designated routes to and from the site, which are shown on the map below in red. Plans are in place to deal with traffic in the event of an accident on the A14 north or south of the junction with the B1113. The majority of traffic will access the site from Bramford Road to the south of Lodge Lane, with only local collections coming from the B1113 north of Lodge Lane. AM peak ( ) PM peak ( ) Development peak ( ) Proposed facility Total No. HGVs in total Highways Depot Total No. HGVs in total Total Difference in two-way trips No. HGVs in total Daily SITA UK is considering a number of road improvements that could be made as part of the project design subject to further discussions with Suffolk County Council. A travel plan will be developed which will encourage employees and visitors to use sustainable modes of travel to access the site, including walking, cycling and public transport. *Assuming two new waste transfer stations are constructed to bulk up local collections from the Lowestoft area and Bury St Edmunds.

11 AIR QUALITY An Air Quality Assessment has now been undertaken, which looks at existing air quality, the potential impact of the facility and associated traffic on local air quality and any mitigation measures that will be needed. This assessment has shown that existing air quality in the area is generally good, while monitoring has shown that average nitrogen dioxide concentrations are well below the levels set out in the Air Quality Strategy Objective. Emissions from the proposed facility will have to remain within permitted limits set and regulated by the Environment Agency. The Air Quality Assessment assumes that the facility operates continuously at the maximum limits, but it is likely that the facility will generally operate well within these limits. If these limits are breached, the facility may be shut down. μg.m -3 μg.m Average annual nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) concentrations Sites (see map) AQS objective level Annual average particulate matter (PM 10 ) concentrations AQS objective level Sites (see map) STACK CONTRIBUTION TRAFFIC CONTRIBUTION AMBIENT CONCENTRATION Health Protection Agency (September 2009) While it is not possible to rule out adverse health effects from modern, well regulated municipal waste incinerators with complete certainty, any potential damage to the health of those living close-by is likely to be very small, if detectable.modern and well managed municipal waste incinerators make only a very small contribution to local concentrations of air pollutants. The assessment shows that even in worst case conditions the predicted impact on local air quality is well below the Environmental Quality Standards for all pollutants. The graphs show the impact of potential emissions from the facility at ten sites chosen in Great Blakenham, Claydon and the surrounding area, and that the effect of the facility on air quality is minimal.

12 PROTECTING THE ENVIRONMENT ECOLOGY The potential effect of the facility on local ecology has been assessed and appropriate measures would be put in place to protect the environment and wildlife. In addition, new landscaping, including a wetland area, would be introduced to encourage wildlife. CULTURAL HERITAGE The local landscape has changed over the last century and become semi-industrial in the area surrounding and including the site, with the development of the former cement works (now demolished), a landfill site and the transport depot itself. NOISE AND VIBRATION All areas of the facility would be designed, built and maintained to minimise noise and vibration effects, working to the criteria agreed with Suffolk County Council s noise and air quality manager. A noise and vibration assessment has been completed which looks at the potential effects of noise and vibration during the construction and operation of the facility. Noise surveys have been undertaken at nearby locations. The results of the assessment have indicated that no adverse noise and vibration effects are expected and no additional mitigation measures are required. During construction, SITA UK s contractors would use tried and tested techniques to minimise noise and vibration. However, the character assessment of the area also identifies a number of listed buildings, parks and gardens, which have been considered within the archaeological and cultural heritage assessment. The assessment identifies a number of effects, but concludes that the landscape and the setting of the affected locations is able to accommodate the proposed new structure, taking into account its design, scale, the nature of existing development, other features such as power lines and permitted development including SnOasis. Works during construction and commissioning will be discussed in advance with the community liaison group and will be advertised locally.

13 PROTECTING THE ENVIRONMENT ODOUR The facility will be designed and built to minimise odour. All waste will be handled inside a fully contained building. Air will be drawn through the reception hall into the combustion process to ensure that the hall remains under a negative pressure, which will control odour. In addition, vehicle entrance and exit access points to the reception hall will be equipped with fast action roller shutter doors, which will remain closed when not in use keeping the air in the building. These features are in use at our other facilities in Kirklees and Tees Valley, resulting in zero complaints to the Environment Agency (see table, with SITA UK operated facilities highlighted in yellow). During periods when one or both of the facility process lines is off line for servicing, waste would continue to be accepted at the facility. The internal waste bunker has a large storage capacity. When the bunker is full, additional capacity would be created by removing waste from the bunker, encapsulating it in plastic and temporarily storing it at the site in the Incinerator Bottom Ash (IBA) recovery facility before transferring it back to the waste bunker when the plant is fully operational. This process is designed to avoid waste going to landfill during planned maintenance periods. Energy-from-waste facility complaints to the Environment Agency (2002/3-2007/8) Odour Dust/smoke Litter Flies/Rodents Grimsby Coventry / Solihull Dudley Nottingham Stoke Tysely Wolverhampton Kirklees Sheffield Tees Valley Bolton Marchwood Portsmouth Chineham* Edmonton** SELCHP Slough The waste wrapping and encapsulation technique has been successfully applied and proven by SITA at operational plants in Europe. The waste is baled and wrapped in plastic netting and wrapping which prevents odour and dust being released during storage. Note: * Quote from EA letter re: Chineham (10/12/07) The peak of complaints in 2003 (11 odour 2 smoke) was when the plant was being permitted. A lot of complaints were not substantiated and were traced to burning at other locations not related to the incinerator. Note: ** Quote from EA letter re: Edmonton (20/12/07) The Edmonton EfW sits within an Ecopark, with several other waste handling and treatment facilities. One of those is a composting facility, for which we received a lot of odour complaints last year. Unfortunately, many of the local residents called in to complain, citing the incinerator as the source. Overall over 400 complaints were made in the search period but only the six complaints quoted in the table were traced to the incinerator. The vast majority of complaints were traced to the nearby composting plant.

14 WHAT HAPPENS NEXT All the comments we receive will be included in a Stakeholder Engagement Report which will accompany the planning application. Give us your views on the proposal by completing a comments form available today. You can also contact SITA UK by , post and freephone to ask questions or give us your comments. We plan to submit a planning application for the facility to Suffolk County Council in December 2010, and following this you will be able to comment on the proposal directly to the Council who will be undertaking their own formal consultation. We expect a decision to be made on the application in Autumn Write to us SITA Suffolk Freepost reference RSHJ-LKUR-TALS c/o PPS Group Langham House Regent Street London W1B 3AT Phone us Freephone us suffolkefw@sita.co.uk Go online Community liaison group The community liaison group for the Suffolk energy-from-waste facility has now been formed to discuss the proposal and address any issues people may have. During the planning phase the group will meet on a monthly basis and we hope will continue to meet until the end of the 25-year contract. Membership of the group is currently full, but SITA UK is accepting names for a waiting list. If you would like to be added to the list, please speak to a member of the SITA UK team or complete a comments form. All agendas and minutes of the group meetings will be available on the SITA UK website.