Plans for new Sunderland household waste and recycling centre revealed

Sunderland City Council's Cabinet next Tuesday, will be asked to rubber stamp more detailed development work for the new Household Waste and Recycling Centre (HWRC) at Pallion Industrial Estate, which would replace the existing facility at Beach Street in Deptford.

The council has allocated £5million for the Pallion works and a mini-recycling centre in the Coalfields area.

Coun Amy Wilson, the city council's Cabinet member for environment and transport, and a Pallion Ward member, said: "The council has been looking at a new site for several years because Beach Street has reached its capacity.

“We have studied other locations, looking at current demand, possible demand in the future, and traffic movements now and what could happen in the future. We now have this decision before us when Cabinet meets."

Beach Street is open seven days a week except Christmas and New Year's Day, has around 40,000 visits annually and collects around 17,000 tonnes of plastic, wood, rubble, garden waste, and redundant electrical appliances. About 60 per cent of all the waste that is delivered to the Beach Street is recycled.

Coun Wilson added: "Beach Street has been in operation since the late 1970s. The council has made many improvements over the years to the site and yet we recognise we must look to provide a more efficient and bigger site with better facilities and opportunities to recycle and reuse more waste materials.

"That is the decision we are looking to take when the Cabinet meets - a new and more updated site at Pallion and a mini-centre for residents in the Coalfield area. That site will make it more convenient for residents who currently have to travel into the city centre to dispose of their bulky waste."

Next week’s report says planning applications could be made next year and the Pallion site could open in early 2021. The council is looking to begin its competitive tendering for a new management contract to run the site.