BORIS Johnson has pressed the button to begin work on an �80 million recycling plant to transform household rubbish into electricity for 15,000 homes across East London.
Britain’s first large-scale advanced gasification plant will turn 100,000 tonnes of waste into nearly 20 megawatts of ‘green’ energy a year when it opens in 2013.
“This facility will take our everyday rubbish and miraculously transform it into electricity,” Boris enthused. “People can rest easy knowing their rubbish will be used to power their homes instead of being dumped in a landfill site and emitting harmful greenhouse gas emissions. ”
The Mayor was at the site bought from Ford Motor Company in Dagenham to kickstart the work, before going on to meet apprentices at the Centre for Engineering & Manufacturing next door, which promotes low carbon technology for East London’s Thames Gateway regeneration.
A loan of almost �9m to Biossence East London has been agreed by the London Waste & Recycling Board towards the gasification plant building costs.
Gasification works by breaking down residual household rubbish through thermal and chemical processes to create a synthetic gas fuel which is used to run electric generators.
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