Greatmoor Energy from Waste Plant continues to power homes across Buckinghamshire
05/06/2020
Greatmoor Energy from Waste Plant normally takes 300,000 tonnes of household and business waste every year to power homes and business across Buckinghamshire. With the lockdown in place, many workplaces closed and employees who can work from home doing so, where the waste comes from has changed.
At the outset of the COVID-19 crisis, workers at Greatmoor Energy from Waste Plant along with others like it were given Key Worker status as the Government recognised the vital role the waste sector needed to play in keeping waste and recycling collections and waste processing going. As such, the plant has remained open, operating normally and continuing to power 40,000 homes across Buckinghamshire and ensuring that residential waste does not end up in landfill.
Greatmoor Energy from Waste Plant takes non-recyclable waste from across the County and burns it to produce steam, that in turn powers a turbine and generates electricity. The Buckinghamshire facility has been providing local residents and businesses with energy for four years and provides an environmentally friendly alternative to landfill.
Ian Judd, General Manager at FCC Environment, said: “The Coronavirus pandemic has given us some new and unknown challenges, however, we have been able to respond quickly to ensure that we continue to put energy back into the grid. The team here are working hard to ensure that homes across Buckinghamshire do not see an impact to their waste collection and disposal and that once people start to return to work, we are ready to treat that waste generated and power their workplaces as well.”
Bill Chapple OBE, Buckinghamshire Council Cabinet Member for Environment & Climate Change, said: “I’d like to thank the FCC team at Greatmoor Energy from Waste Plant for responding so well to a really challenging and unexpected situation. Together with the dedication of our kerbside collection teams, this helped to ensure that Buckinghamshire’s waste services continued more or less as usual through the coronavirus lockdown.”
Around 107,000 people in the waste and resource management industry have been identified by the Government as key workers, among them the team at FCC Environment working on behalf of Buckinghamshire Council. New ways of working have been put in place at the facility to ensure the government’s social distancing guidelines are adhered to, whilst keeping the plant operational.
If you’d like to find out more about Greatmoor Energy from Waste Plant, visit https://www.greatmoor.co.uk/