Natural Resources Wales gives draft approval to controversial recycling centre

Natural Resources Wales (NRW) has launched a public consultation on its draft decision to approve a controversial application for an environmental permit to operate a bulking facility for non-hazardous waste at Abermule.

Powys County Council re-applied to NRW for an environmental permit in June last year after a previous application was refused by the environmental regulator in March 2022.

Campaigners insisted last year that a public consultation over the application to run the  £4.3 million recycling facility should take place.

If the permit is granted, the site will be able to accept and process up to 22,500 tonnes of non-hazardous waste per year with a maximum of 425 tonnes kept on site at any one time.

The site will receive recycling collected from households across Montgomeryshire, where it will be squashed together  or “bulked,” so that it can be more easily transported to processors.

The council have stressed that the facility is needed so that they can hit Welsh Government recycling targets.

NRW has confirmed it has completed a detailed technical assessment and has reached a draft decision to issue the permit.

Before making a final decision, NRW is consulting on the draft decision and the draft permit.

This is to explain the decision to the public and other interested parties and to give them the opportunity to make relevant comments on the decision.

Ann Weedy, NRW Operations Manager for Mid Wales said:

“We have undertaken a full technical assessment of the application and supporting documents and taken into account the comments received and held from the previous consultation.

“We believe that we have considered all the relevant issues and reached a reasonable conclusion, but our final decision could be affected by any information that is relevant to the issues we have to consider.”

Unless information is received that leads NRW to alter the conditions in the draft permit, or to reject the application altogether, the permit will be issued in its current form.

Campaigners against the scheme say the facility is more suited to an industrial estate and have raised fears about a fire risk and an increase in traffic and noise.

The public consultation will start on Friday 2 June 2023 and run for a period of four weeks, closing on Friday 30 June 2023.

A final decision will be made shortly after feedback to the consultation has been fully considered.

People can respond to the consultation here.