AC Environmental secured planning permission for a 33 acre site at Cadley Hill, Swadlincote, for an inert and wood waste recycling facility for Willshee’s Waste and Recycling.
The site, a former coal stocking railhead, had been abandoned since the 1990s. Nature had moved in and the site was designated as a Local Wildlife Site, by Derbyshire Wildlife Trust.
It was recognised that planning permission would not be achieved on this very sensitive site without careful planning and management of the site development to ensure that ecologically important areas of the site were protected.
Ecological surveys were conducted over two years and a management plan sensitive to the needs of protected species was developed to ensure that the recycling operation could co-exist with the wildlife.
Willshee’s committed to retaining woodland and wetland areas and to manage these to improve biodiversity at the same time as recycling 70,000 tonnes per year of aggregates for the construction industry and wood chip destined for biomass boilers in the local area and power stations throughout the UK.
AC Environmental made a further application to develop an automated RDF plant which was granted in 2019. The plant is now fully operational and is an impressive development using cutting edge technology to recycle 190,000 tonnes per year of commercial and industrial wastes.
