Plans For A Sate-of-the-Art Recycling Centre Have Been Announced

PLANS for a state-of-the-art recycling centre in Witchford are to go on display on Saturday.

The centre for household waste recycling is set to be the first of five custom-built facilities across the county - all run by Waterbeach-based waste company Donarbon, who have a PFI contract with the county council, worth £730million.

Three other centres are planned for Cambridge and another once the new town of Northstowe is built between Oakington and Longstanton.

The Witchford indoor recycling centre would replace the facility at Grunty Fen, where residents can drop of anything from household cooking oil to televisions.

Its location at the junction between the A142 and Lancaster Way business park and would prevent residents from Ely driving through Witchford village itself to dispose of their waste. The centre also has to close while skips are removed from the site.

Official figures say 36 per cent of waste is recycled in East Cambs - the national average is 33 per cent - but stringent Government targets say councils should recycle half of all waste by 2015.

While progress is being made to up recycling rates by making tips more user friendly, The Ely Standard continues to receive complaints from residents whose kerbside waste has been left uncollected

Cyril Peach, a Haddenham resident who complained to The Ely Standard in June, told us that his waste is still going uncollected on a regular basis, and Ely resident, Graham Barnes, said his compostable waste had been left outside the St Mary's Street car park for seven days.

East Cambridgeshire District Council is in the process of trying to iron out ongoing problems with multinational company Veolia who are paid £1.5m per year to collect the area's waste.

INFO: To view the outline plans for Witchford indoor recycling centre visit Ely Market Place on Saturday. Formal plans are expected to be submitted in September.