A 15 year deal has been secured with Biowise to provide a composting plant to process food and garden waste from Cheshire East’s 370,000 residents commencing in Autumn 2019.
The composting plant will make it possible for food across the whole of Cheshire East to be recycled for the first time allowing further improvements on Cheshire East Council's current recycling rates.
Biowise offers an efficient, sustainable and low-cost solution to recycle food waste and have successfully satisfied the strict planning application requirements. They will manage 75,000 tonnes of food waste operating a £7m state of the art 'In-Vessel' composting facility on the CEC-owned site at Leighton Grange, near Crewe, providing a long-term, environmentally-friendly solution for residents, utilising the latest technology to produce a high-quality assured PAS 100 compost product from mixed garden and food waste.
Cheshire East is keeping its three bin system (Black, Silver and Green waste) with both the green waste and food waste being collected fortnightly within the garden waste bin so there will be no need for an extra 'wheely bin'. Small lidded containers will be provided for indoor waste food collection which can then be periodically emptied into the outdoor green waste bin.
The development of this advanced composting facility represents the culmination of a two-year process of careful design and negotiation with Biowise, Cheshire East Council officers and their advisors.
