Ford plant ensures county hits target early

The materials recycling facility (MRF) at Ford has been a major factor in the county council being able to process the huge extra volume of glass, paper, card and plastic collected once a fortnight from residents’ wheelie-bins.

Collections have more than tripled from 24,500 tonnes in 2008 to 82,000 tonnes last year. West Sussex is now expected to reach an overall recycling rate of 45 per cent of waste well in advance of 2015, the target date set in the contract between the county council and its waste and recycling operator, Viridor – at the end of 2011 it was 44.6 per cent.

The success of the 25-year waste and recycling contract, signed in March, 2004, which included a £25m investment in state-of-the-art recycling facilities such as the MRF and the redevelopment of several household waste recycling sites, among them Littlehampton’s, has now led to Viridor and the county council being shortlisted for the Best Operational Project at the Partnership Awards 2012, organised by Partnerships Bulletin.

News of the success came just two weeks after West Sussex and Viridor won the Best Partnership Award at the Association for Organics Recycling Awards for boosting home composting.