There were four serious fires in the space of 12 months at an old waste plant on the site
Proposed location of plastic incinerator on Shireoaks Road, Worksop
A plastics recycling plant in an area of Nottinghamshire has been recommended for approval as more than 1,200 residents seek to stop plans in their tracks.
Envale UK has tabled its plans for the new plastic chemical recycling facility, with an energy recovery facility, on an old recycling site in Worksop.
The operator of the old facility, off Shireoaks Road, was subject to environmental enforcement action in 2013 requiring the removal of waste.
Nottinghamshire County Council says shortly after the notice was served on the operator, NRL, a series of fires occurred which destroyed buildings and machinery.
There were four serious fires in the space of 12 months and, later in 2014, the operator collapsed into administration.
The authority’s planning officers have recommended the proposal for approval at a meeting on Tuesday (November 3).
While the new plans have avoided objections from most of the statutory consultees, Bassetlaw District Council objected against the plans at a planning committee in 2024.
Rhodesia Parish Council has also objected, while a petition against the plans has been signed by more than 1,200 residents.
Envale says the scheme has been “carefully considered”, and added: “The Energy Recovery Facility will prevent 24,369 tonnes per annum of non-recyclable residual waste from going to landfill and will generate up to 10 megawatts of heat and 2.5 megawatts of electricity – enough to power over 650 homes every year.
“The facilities are an answer to Nottinghamshire’s plastic and residual waste problem.”
The plant would break down plastics via a method called pyrolysis.
Under the process, waste plastic will be delivered into a heated sealed chamber, where it would be heated to around 500C in the absence of oxygen, causing the plastic polymer to “crack” into smaller molecules until it becomes liquid and gas hydrocarbons, similar to those used to make plastics in the first place.
This mixture of smaller molecules is known as pyrolysis oil, which can go on to be used for other processes.
The Shireoaks and Rhodesia Against Plastic Pyrolysis (SRAPP) established the petition a number of years ago when the plans first surfaced.
Lesley Rowlands, one of the group’s members, previously told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “It was once an industrial area, but that’s been phased out over the last 50 years for residential developments and shops. It’s no longer fit for that purpose.”
It is understood the group has booked a coach so that its members can attend the planning committee on Tuesday.
Jo White, Bassetlaw’s Labour MP, has objected based on the proximity of the proposed site to newly developed residential and leisure areas.
She says significant investment has been made in sporting infrastructure, notably at the former Glassworks, which now hosts cricket and football activities.
New housing developments have also been completed in Shireoaks and Rhodesia, while Dormer Tools has been redeveloped from industrial use into housing directly next to the proposed site.
She argued the Environmental Services Association (ESA), which represents the UK waste industry, advises facilities should not be located within 500 metres of residential areas.
Planning documents say the nearest residential properties are located on Robertson Grove to the north-west, and there is a distance of roughly six metres at the closest point between the red line boundary of the site and the rear garden boundaries of properties.
Other concerns include possible run-off into the Chesterfield Canal and vehicle movements in and out of the facility.
Previous schemes, including a waste transfer and recycling facility in 2006 that failed to materialise, were granted for vehicle movements of up to 200 per day.
Envale says vehicle movements would be well under this at around 50 heavy goods vehicle movements daily, plus a maximum of 60 staff vehicle movements each day.
The site currently shares an access road with the neighbouring Worksop Household Waste Recycling Centre (HWRC), operated on behalf of Nottinghamshire County Council by Veolia.