Operations start at Newhurst Energy Recovery Facility

Full operations have started at Newhurst Energy Recovery Facility (ERF) following the successful completion of a three-year construction and commissioning project. 

Newhurst ERF is set to annually process 350,000 tonnes of non-recyclable waste, generating up to 42MW of sustainable baseload electricity and recovering residual ash and metals from the treatment process for reuse. Encyclis managed the construction of Newhurst ERF, which it jointly owns with Biffa.

Mick Davis, Biffa’s Chief Operating Officer - Resources & Energy, said: “Biffa has a leading role to play in developing the recycling and energy-from-waste facilities that the UK needs if it is to become a low-carbon, resource-efficient economy. Energy recovery is a lower carbon alternative to landfill for the treatment of waste that can’t be reduced or recycled and will have a vital role to play for many years as a contributor to the transition to Net Zero. Reaching this milestone at Newhurst, along with our ambitious investments in recycling, are vital steps in the delivery of our strategic investment plans. We look forward to working with our partners to further reduce the UK’s reliance on landfill or export for managing the country’s non-recyclable waste.”

The facility, near Shepshed in Leicestershire, is the second in Encyclis’s planned portfolio of six Energy-from-Waste projects to be delivered on time following the start of commercial operations at Rookery South ERF, near Bedford, last year.

Encyclis CEO Owen Michaelson said: “The move into full commercial operations at Newhurst ERF is a credit to our teams, working with HZI to ensure completion as planned at the outset. Construction started in 2020, when we were all in the grip of the pandemic, and to have achieved delivery on time despite all those headwinds is the result of a remarkable effort by everyone involved in the project.”

The start of full operations at Newhurst ERF brings Encyclis’ installed capacity across the UK, Ireland and Italy to 1.8 million tonnes per annum. The facility achieved first fire on waste in October as part of the commissioning process and the completion of testing and optimisation enabled commercial takeover. 

The project created more than 300 jobs during construction, with 50 people now employed by Encyclis at the facility to ensure 24/7 operations.