Donarbon target 80 per cent of rubbish IN just over two years time, Huntingdonshire will be recycling 80 per cent of its rubbish. That is the plan behind the building of a £30million new plant to reclaim every possible piece of plastic, paper, wood, glas

Donarbon target 80 per cent of rubbish

IN just over two years' time, Huntingdonshire will be recycling 80 per cent of its rubbish.

That is the plan behind the building of a £30million new plant to reclaim every possible piece of plastic, paper, wood, glass and metal and compost all organic waste. The plant is the first of its kind in Britain.

The plant is being built by Donarbon in a public-private finance initiative (PFI) deal. Cambridgeshire County Council has awarded the company a 28-year contract to recycle the county's waste.

Donarbon will use its current recycling centre in Alconbury - and will build a brand new £30million plant at its headquarters in Waterbeach to use space-age technology to deal with what householders throw away.

A spokesman said only 20 per cent would be unreclaimable and have to go into landfill.

At the Waterbeach plant, which should be working by 2009, waste from Huntingdonshire will be reclaimed - even if it has been put into the wrong bin.

There will be a transfer centre at Alconbury where a spokesman for Donarbon said rubbish would be "bulked up" to reduce the amount of transport needed to move it, and taken to Waterbeach for sorting.

The Waterbeach plant will, for example, use computer technology to tell the difference between different polymers in plastic.

The company will expand its current garden and kitchen waste composting system, which now turns the county's kerbside collected organic waste into a soil improver, used by gardeners and farmers. It will double the amount to £100,000 tonnes a year.

Donarbon director, Jim Edmeades said: "We are delighted with the county council's decision and look forward to providing the technology to deal with the county's waste in partnership with the council.

"It is a great achievement for our team and will mean long-term security for our staff and the creation of more local jobs.