A Joint Venture between Bedminster International and Organic Waste Management has secured planning permission from Cheshire County Council to establish a Bedminster BioEnergy facility in Northwich, Cheshire.

The proposed facility will cost £35 million and will have a capacity of 150,000 tonnes of waste per year. The well proven Bedminster Technology will be used to separate the biodegradable fraction from waste for conversion into green renewable energy.

Bedminster is the world’s leading company in the extraction and conversion of carbon-rich waste streams into renewable energy. Bedminster achieves this through the utilization of proven technologies, together with an expert sales strategy, which is winning long term contracts with Governments on a global basis. The Bedminster Technology processes in excess of 1 million tonnes annually in 12 plants worldwide. Bedminster International is headquartered in Dublin with offices in Boston and London and owns the world rights to the patented Bedminster BioEnergy Technology. Chairman Bill McCabe is the main shareholder through his investment vehicle Oyster Technology and Goldman Sachs is a minority shareholder in the Company.

Mike Brookes of OWM has decades of experience in the waste, recycling and demolition sectors offering services to both domestic customers and blue chip companies. As an environmentally aware company, recycling is something OWM believes in passionately. This is proven by its recent investment in a state of the art recycling centre at Wardle, Cheshire, which is currently achieving an impressive 90% recovery rate.

Bedminster Chief Executive Pearse O’Kane said “The high biomass diversion levels, along with the generation of renewable energy and the negative carbon footprint of the facility, are of tremendous benefit to the UK Government in achieving their key waste, energy and carbon emission policy objectives. Reducing our carbon footprint is perhaps one of the most important steps we can take to save our environment. Bedminster is dedicated to this cause, which is at the core of our business. Tests show that for every tonne of waste processed by Bedminster, one tonne of CO2 equivalent is prevented from entering the atmosphere. Another way of looking at this is for every 100,000 tonnes of waste processed by Bedminster, this would be equivalent to taking more than 36,000 cars off the UK roads” Mr O’Kane added.

Commenting on the permission, Mike Brookes said “The Bedminster Technology is a clean, safe and sustainable solution for waste producers, local government and the public alike. By using the Bedminster Solution, consumers will only need one bin and only one truck will be needed to collect all the rubbish. We look forward to discussing the project with the many waste producers and local authorities in the North of England to help them meet their obligations and to treat their waste at competitive rates. I believe that this will be the first of many such facilities in the UK”