Both In Vessel Composting (IVC) and Anaerobic Digestion (AD) are viable processes for treating food waste and are preferable to landfilling. AD, whilst more expensive, produces significant quantities of renewable energy with a secondary compost product, so much more value is recovered from the waste. AD is widely supported and promoted by Government and Environmental Groups.
The AD plant itself will be contained within one industrial type building and the maturation process will take place in another. The buildings will appear to be no different in appearance to the building situated on the Richborugh Hall site. The whole design of the site has been done in a way that the whole site is as aesthetically pleasing to the eye as all current operations.
All waste will be unloaded inside the building and no waste will be deposited outside.
All of the processing plant would be contained inside a fully enclosed building. The building would be fitted with fast acting automatic doors that open only to allow entry by delivery vehicles and which close immediately after the vehicle has moved through the door opening.
The building is designed with “negative air pressure” such that when a door opens, air is drawn into the building from outside. All air from the plant and building will be passed through a biofilter that effectively removes any odours before the clean air is discharged to atmosphere.
The planning application includes a full Environmental Impact Assessment that addresses the issue of odour and which concludes that the measures in place will effectively control the release of odour.
Once operational the plant will be required to comply with an Environmental Permit issued by the Environment Agency that will include conditions covering measures for odour control.
The plant will be located inside a fully enclosed building and the electricity generating engines inside containers that are designed to minimise noise emissions.
The application is accompanied by a full and quantitative noise assessment that includes background monitoring of noise levels both during the day and at night at locations outside of the site.
Predictions were made of the impact of noise from the plant both during the day and at night at these properties. These predictions area within acceptable limits and indicate that the operation of the plant will not generate sufficient noise to cause for complaint.
Noise monitoring will be repeated once the site is operational to confirm that noise generated from the plant is within the predicted levels.
The Environmental Impact Assessment submitted with the planning application includes a full and quantitative assessment of the potential impact of the plant on local air quality.
The assessment includes a computer dispersion modeling exercise and concentrates on the potential impact on air quality at local residential and commercial properties and designated habitat sites.
The assessment concludes that the operation of the proposed AD facility will not result in the exceedence of any air quality standards or guidelines; that there will be no significant adverse effects on any designated habitat sites; and, that traffic associated with the development will have no significant air quality impacts.
The plant will generate between 4 and 5 megawatts of electricity. Average domestic electricity usage is approximately 0.5kWh. The plant will therefore provide sufficient electricity to satisfy the average demand of between 8000 and 10000 houses.