What the waste plant would be

• The biggest of its kind in Europe.
• At least four times the size of ordinary plastic pyrolysis plants in Europe.
• Sited at Morton Park near restaurants, a hotel, hospital and Supermarket.
• Processing 120,000 tonnes of plastic film, a material which hasn’t been proved to work at a commercial scale and is notoriously combustible.
• Requiring up to 10HGV movements per hour.
• Creating noise, odour and fire risk 24 hours a day. 

What they don’t want you to know.

• Our research cannot find another pyrolysis site on this scale or on such a location in Europe. By a factor of four. 

• There is a Dutch installation within a larger plant (or campus) called Chemelot, but this does not exclusively process plastic film.
• Processing plastic film is the most difficult as the process will not work when there are different types or layers of polymer, when it is covered in ink, when it is covered in organic or inorganic matter, or if it is not completely dry.

• Approximately 12 billion shreds of plastic will arrive every day, along with associated fibres and dust. It is inconceivable to think that millions of bits won’t billow out into surrounding areas.

• To supply the plant, we estimate there would be 10 HGV’s movements per hour, every hour, and conceivably more with traffic disruption or at peak times.

• If the pyrolysis burners are working 24 hours a day, which is a reasonable assumption, there will be almost continuous onsite traffic and associated noise-especially from the army of forklifts needed to feed them 

• Once the process is complete there would be a similar continuous army of vehicles to clear the ‘char’ from the burners and onto HGVs.
• Fire risk is substantial in plastic recycling, even more so with film, a cursory search on Google reveals this.

• The estimated 100,000 tonnes of oil produced can be used for fuel, which is to say, the oil produced can be highly flammable.

• The local Liberal Democrat team have lodged a detailed objection with the Environment Agency. We encourage you to do likewise. Their email is npsfeedback@environment-agency.gov.uk . Feel free to use any or all of the points in this compressed version of our objection. 

• Given all this very reasonable cause for serious concern and objection, as the Council are fully behind it, we now await the decision of the Environment Agency. 

• Either way, there is one person who can intervene. 

• Mayor Houchen has associated himself closely with the plant, but he is a shrewd enough politician to read public opinion. He is also ideally placed to bring together the different parties, including local people, and begin discussions to relocate the plant at Teesworks.  

• Teesworks is the logical location to site a plant of such scale and environmental impact.