New jobs set to be created at Darwen waste site (From This Is Lancashire)

New jobs set to be created at Darwen waste site

9:00pm Monday 17th September 2012 in News

TWENTY jobs will be created if a waste transfer station to turn rubbish into fuel in Darwen is given the go-ahead this week.

Giant refuse company SITA wants to build the complex on land once occupied by the former Wolstenholme International ink works.

Its said the proposed Darwen Resource Recovery Park in Lower Eccleshill Road, Eccleshill, will complement its existing materials recycling unit on the same site, given planning permission in February.

It will deal with 50,000 tonnes of waste each year with much being turned into solid or liquid recovered fuel.

The company expects to employ 20 staff at the site on a daytime shift system.

There will be around 36 loads of waste brought to the complex each day between 7am and 7pm Mondays to Saturdays and 7 am to 1 pm on Sundays using the existing main access off Goosehouse Lane.

The actual conversion machinery will operate between 6am and 11pm every day of the week but SITA said the noise levels for people living at the nearby travellers’ site should not exceed 43 decibels.

This councillors will be told is no worse than from the Crown Paints site, also in Lower Eccleshill Road.

Much of the materials recovered as reusable fuel will be sent for heat treatment elsewhere.

The remainder will be sent for landfill or dealt with at the adjacent materials recycling unit.

Local East Rural ward Conservative councillor Julie Slater said: “This seems a suitable use for the site. I cannot really see there will be a problem with this large former industrial site. I have received no objections.”

The only person to express concern is local Alan Pickup who contacted Blackburn with Darwen council through local MP Jake Berry over increased traffic.

The borough planning and highways committee will consider the application at its meeting on Thursday night. Officials have recommended approval subject to conditions on hours of work, traffic access and landscaping.

Wolstenholme International’s ink works, employing 250 staff, closed in 2007.

Most refuse will come from local companies including a small amount of hazardous waste such as batteries, aerosols and electrical items.