Members of the community are now able to explore the Beddington Energy Recovery Facility from the comfort of their sofa or on-the-go through their smartphone as the interactive Viridor Virtual Visitor Centre goes live. The site launches as the Beddington ERF has been receiving waste from the South London Waste Partnership (SLWP) and from licensed third parties for a number of months, diverting it away from landfill, and generating enough electricity to power the facility itself plus around c. 55,000 homes.
The Virtual Visitor Centre (VVC) is a web-based, public access, learning platform for members of the community (households in the London boroughs of Croydon, Kingston, Merton and Sutton) to learn more about the Beddington Energy Recovery Facility and what happens to their non-recyclable waste after it is collected by the South London Waste Partnership.
The £205m cutting-edge ERF is nearing completion, and as part of Viridor’s commitment to inform, educate and share information about its operations, information is provided on how the ERF treats any emissions before they are released into the atmosphere via the flue stacks. There is a guidance note which provides members of the public with easy access to Emissions Monitoring Data reports.
Mike Stafford, Head of Contracts for Viridor, said: “We are pleased to make this online educational resource available to the South London Waste Partnership boroughs and their residents. Every day we recover energy from south London partnership boroughs waste which cannot be recycled. The Virtual Visitor Centre helps to give a unique insight into how non-recyclable black bag residual waste is treated once it is thrown in the bin. We recognise that there is a genuine interest in what happens at the ERF and this website forms part of our commitment to share operational updates and information about the facility. In the coming months we look forward to opening the education centre at the ERF for community groups to see our operations first hand.”
Councillor Mike Brunt, Chairman of the South London Waste Partnership Joint Committee, said: “This high quality website will quickly become the go-to resource for any residents who have questions about the Beddington ERF, what it does and how it does it. I’m particularly pleased that the emissions monitoring data from the facility will be published on this site. The Beddington ERF will adopt one of the most open and transparent approaches to the publication of emissions monitoring data anywhere in the country. This should provide local residents with the reassurances they need that the emissions from the facility are being very carefully monitored and are safe.”
