Raikes progress

A £20million investment scheme has transformed the plant into the "Bolton Thermal Recovery Facility".

Burning 120,000 tonnes of rubbish a year creates 10 megawatts of power -- enough to heat the equivalent of 7,000 homes -- by producing steam to power a turbine.

And Greater Manchester Waste Ltd, the company which has seen the project through in the face of considerable opposition from residents and environmental campaigners, is also due to open an impressive educational facility -- "The Waste Experience".

It is expected to attract school children and other visitors from all over the Greater Manchester conurbation when it opens towards the end of October or early November. It will coincide with the launch of a web site -- www.gmwaste.co.uk

Greater Manchester Waste Ltd -- a company controlled by the Oldham-based Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority -- has its headquarters in Higher Swan Lane, Bolton, and employs more than 650 people throughout the nine district council areas involved.

Bolton TRF, as the Raikes Lane plant is now known, employs 58 people.

It was commissioned by the former Bolton Borough Council and started operations in 1971.

The former Greater Manchester Council took over in 1974 and it was transferred to the Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority when the GMC was abolished in 1986,

Greater Manchester Waste Ltd, which was created in 1995, stopped incineration operations at Raikes Lane in 1996 in the light of plans for a major refurbishment.

But a concerted campaign against the proposals and an unsuccessful court challenge meant that the commissioning period did not start until six months ago.

The company says state of the art flue gas cleaning and purification equipment reduces emissions from the 61 metre chimney to below the EU waste incineration directive and Environment Agency regulations, making the installation one of the cleanest of its kind.

Vehicle movements at the site have been reduced by 60 per cent and the company believes it has kept the local community fully informed through regular meetings of a local liasison forum which has involved councillors, local authority officers, residents and the Environment Agency.

"We wanted to make sure that everyone was reasonably happy," said Mr John Lea, the company's Director of Technical Services.

In the plant's incinerator days there were regular complaints from residents alarmed by the highly visible steam which billowed from the chimney on occasion.

Mr Lea says a flume is still occasionally visible, but there have not been any complaints.

"As far as we are concerned it is a very good development of a plant which has operated well over the years," he said.

"It is doing very well and we have had some very good emission results from it."

Mr Lea is also looking forward to the day when steam heat from the plant is used for a district heating plan which will service local residents and companies.

"We will think about it over the next two to three years," he said.

Mr Lea and Daniel Gould, public relations and advertising assistant, showed me round the Waste Experience centre in Hurstwood Court on the Raikes Lane Industrial Estate.

There is a 40-seat theatre which features a video introducing the company and explaining what it does to dispose of society's rubbish.

The exhibition area has child-friendly attractions such as a machine to crush drinks cans and a virtual reality computer tour of the adjoining plant.

There is information about processes such as pulverisation, steel and aluminium recovery and green waste recycling.

Once the centre is open, parties of older children will also have the opportunity to move next door and see the TRF in action.

"We have had a lot of interest already," Mr Gould said.

"The environment is massive in schools at the moment.

"If we can educate the kids it is likely it will rub off on the parents."

Anybody interested in The Waste Experience can contact Mr Gould on 01204 654611.