WORK is expected to start soon on a new waste processing plant at the Port of Tilbury.

A scheme has been approved for some time to build the new facility which will create energy from processing 350,000 tonnes of waste a year but it was not followed up. The rights to the Thameside Energy Recovery Facility Ltd owned by Irish utility firm ESB have now been acquired by waste and recycling compnay Viridor, for an undisclosed sum.

Viridor says it aims to have the plant commercially operational by 2026, when it would generate enough energy to power the equivalent of 93,000 British households.

ESB had developed the project since 2017, having taken it from concept to a fully consented project and says it "congratulates Viridor on their successful acquisition and acknowledges with thanks the assistance received from key stakeholders Thurrock Council, the Port of Tilbury and Tilbury Green Power Ltd in developing the project to this stage."

The new plant will sit adjacent to an operational biomass plant which processes around 270,000 tonnes per year of waste wood, with a 300,000-tonne capacity. This is owned by Tilbury Green Power Ltd.

The site sits adjacent to the Tilbury biomass plant operated by Tilbury Green Power Limited.

Tilbury Green Power Ltd was first granted planning permission in 2009 to build a waste wood biomass plant alongside a residual waste EfW plant at Tilbury Docks, with a combined capacity of 650,000 tonnes.

The biomass plant became operational in April 2018 and processes around 270,000 tonnes per year of waste wood, with a 300,000-tonne capacity.

Since 2009, though, the EfW plant has been on hold but is now set to be built on the land adjacent to Grays Riverside park.