The UK’s Packington Landfill, once Europe’s busiest, closed on Tuesday, Waste Management World reports.
The 50-year-old landfill in Birmingham, managed by SITA UK, a part of Suez Environment, took in about 35 million metric tons of waste before closing.
Geraint Rees, general manager (landfill) for SITA UK, told the publication that Packington was the first site in the country to produce electricity from landfill gas. “It had the reputation for leading the way in landfill technology,” Rees said.
The landfill has been producing energy for 25 years; Rees says it will continue to do so for another 20.
“It has also led the way in introducing high-tech solutions to make sure the pollutants caused by decaying waste are effectively contained, collected and treated — so they don’t cause harm to local people or wildlife,” Rees told Waste Management World. “This has included a new leachate treatment plant, which opened on site last year.”
The landfill also turns about 50,000 metric tons of green waste each year into compost and converts up to 70,000 metric tons of waste wood into biofuel products annually.