Salford Road Bolton tip earmarked for £20m recycling plant

The Salford Road site in Over Hulton has been earmarked as the location as Bolton and the rest of Greater Manchester  prepares for an influx of tens of thousands of tonnes of mixed recycling.

The 100,000-tonne-a-year capacity of the Material Recovery Facility at Longley Lane in Sharston, Manchester, is not enough in light of the legislation on its way through Westminster.

From 2026, as a result of the government's Resources and Waste Strategy (RaWS), it is thought all authorities across the country are to be asked to collect lower-grade plastics such as pots, tubs and trays. Currently, in this region, the authorities involved in Recycle for Greater Manchester (R4GM) collect higher-grade plastics or, in other words, only bottles.

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Tom Ross, the leader of Trafford Council and the lead for Green City-Region on the combined authority, set out the implications of an influx of an estimated extra 36,000 tonnes a year of mixed recycling.

Cllr Ross said: "We have a Material Recovery Facility at Longley Lane but it is 10 years old and it is showing age-related issues.

"We have assessed the implications of the changes and we think it is sensible to invest in the infrastructure to sort these materials.

"We have assessed some locations for a Material Recovery Facility and the preferred option is for one at our Salford Road site. 

"The plan is for operation at the Salford Road site to be commenced with the additional technologies in place for pots, tubs and trays etcetera at which point the Longley Lane site will be decommissioned."

Currently, the Salford Road site is home to a biowaste recycling centre and a mattress recycling centre both of which would need to move to make way for the Material Recovery Facility.

The cost of the work is up to £20 million. It is set to start next year to allow for planning permission and for other preparations over this year.

A report said: "The advantages of this option are developing the Material Recovery Facility without disrupting district collections, and relocating current activities carried out in the building by repurposing other GMCA assets at alternate locations. 

"This option also avoids the cost (£8 million-£10 million) of constructing a new building to accommodate the Material Recovery Facility as all proposed materials reception, processing and storage activities can be contained in the existing building.

"Another of the advantages of this option is the adjacent GMCA-owned solar farm that is generating electricity for export to the National Grid. 

"The connections are available on site to switch the power from the solar farm to a feed for the operation of the facility. This will reduce operational costs to run the facility and contribute towards the decarbonisation of the GMCA waste estate."

This article was written by Jack Tooth. To contact him, email jack.tooth@newsquest.co.uk or follow @JTRTooth on Twitter.