Controversial recycling plant tipped for approval in Worksop despite strong objections

Envale UK has tabled its plans for the new plastic chemical recycling facility, with an energy recovery facility, on an old recycling site in the town.

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 that the proposal be approved during an upcoming 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 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, said: “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.”

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.

Other concerns include possible run-off into the Chesterfield Canal and vehicle movements in and out of the facility.

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.