Ardley

Unlike much of Europe, the UK has traditionally relied heavily on landfill to manage waste. This is rapidly changing due to European, national and local policies on waste management aimed at reducing the amount of waste generated, increasing recycling and composting, recovering value and energy from waste and reducing reliance on landfill.

This includes increasing landfill tax every year by £8 per tonne, until it reaches £72 by 2013.

As a result, Oxfordshire County Council is looking at suitable technologies to treat the 300,000 tonnes of residual household waste produced in the area left over after recyclable materials have been removed for re-use or recycling.

Viridor is the preferred bidder selected for the contract to manage Oxfordshire’s residual waste in the long-term and the contract is expected to be signed soon.

Our proposals outline a resource efficient solution for residual waste that will complement high recycling levels.

This will be achieved with a new Energy from Waste (EfW) facility on the existing landfill and recycling site between Ardley and Middleton Stoney in Oxfordshire.

Through this facility, Viridor also proposes to recover energy from the residual waste, in the form of electricity.

It is anticipated that 35 to 40 new permanent jobs would be created at the site as well as temporary job opportunities arising during construction. 

Viridor submitted a planning application for the site in October 2008, which was refused by Oxfordshire County Council's Planning and Regulation Committee in October 2009.

We appealed this decision and submitted a revised application in earlier this year.

The public inquiry relating to our appeal took place in July 2010 and a decision by the Secretary of State is expected in the next few months. 

We continue to welcome feedback and invite you to submit your views and comments on our proposals through the Contact Us page or by phoning 01732 229 200.