News
• Chinese Delegation visits Waterbeach MBT Plant: Company [19/08/2009]
A delegation of 6 officials from different waste management organisations and companies in Shanghai visited the new Mechanical Biological Treatment (MBT) plant at Donarbon’s Waste Management Park in Waterbeach on Wednesday 19th August. The aim of the visit was for the officials to see the latest waste management technology available in the UK. The delegation consisted of managers and engineers from the Shanghai Environmental Industry Co. Ltd., Shanghai Laogang Waste Disposal Co. Ltd, Shanghai Chengtou Corporation and the Shanghai Dongfei Environmental Engineering Service Co. Ltd, the companies that cover all aspects of waste management for the Shanghai municipal region. The tour of the new plant included a rare opportunity to view the machinery that will sort recyclable materials from residents’ residual (black bag) waste and the huge hall where the remainder will be composted to produce a material that could be used to grow non-food crops and for quarry restoration. The MBT has been built as part of a major PFI contract between Cambridgeshire County Council and Donarbon to ensure that the Council meets its challenging targets for diverting household waste from landfill and avoiding associated fines. The visit was arranged after the Shanghai delegation contacted local company Cambridge Visits to arrange a site tour of a modern British waste treatment facility because of the company’s links to the Foreign Office’s Sponsored Visits programme and their experience of hosting overseas visitors. Patrick Horsley, Managing Director for Cambridge Visits said, “This was one of the more obscure requests for a visit that we receive, but when the Chinese agent for a Shanghai waste company contacted me I remembered the recent media coverage of the new waste treatment plant in Waterbeach and agreed to help. Donarbon and the County Council have been extremely helpful in making time free; the delegation was very appreciative of the site visit, seemed very impressed and said they had a lot of information to take home with them”. Mark Shelton, Waste Promotions Manager for Donarbon Ltd. said, “ The Chinese visitors were very interested in the new MBT plant. We took them round the internal workings of the plant and explained what all the machinery will do to extract materials from Cambridgeshire resident’s general waste for recycling, and how the remainder will be turned into a compost like material. We were also able to show them where all the kerbside collected food and garden waste is composted through our Animal By-Product Compliant In-Vessel Composting system”. Councillor Tony Orgee, Lead Member for Economy and the Environment at Cambridgeshire County Council said, “This was a great opportunity to share what we are doing in Cambridgeshire with our counterparts in China. This new plant is the first of its kind in the UK and our visitors took away many ideas for what they could do in their own country”. Giles Brookes from BAM Nuttall Ltd who are project managing the construction of the MBT said, “We are proud of this building and are delighted that visitors from overseas are interested in coming to see it for themselves.” |