Building work on the 126 acre site next to the Stanlow Oil Refinery on the south bank of the Manchester Ship Canal will take three years and create hundreds of jobs

The site will become the UK’s largest resource recovery park and be run by Ince Park LLP, in a joint venture partnership between Covanta and Peel.

The agreement will see Covanta Energy – the world’s biggest operator of Energy-from-Waste facilities  – design, build, own and operate the EfW plant.

The facility will turn household and business waste, which cannot be sensibly recycled, into heat and up to 95 MW of electricity -enough to meet the needs of about 150,000 homes.

Peel Environmental and Covanta will jointly market the remainder of the 126 acre site to organisations in the waste and environmental sectors.

They will promote the use of the Manchester Ship Canal’s deep water berth for the transportation of goods to and from the eco-park as well as its rail sidings and easy access to the motorway (M56). About 50 acres of the site has already been earmarked for extensive landscaping and a nature reserve.

Myles Kitcher, Director of Peel Environmental said: “We are delighted to have found a partner in Covanta who is committed to delivering the EfW plant at the earliest possible opportunity. This means that we are looking at several hundred construction jobs over a three year period in addition to creating more than 1,000 full time jobs across the full Ince site. Jobs we promised during the planning process will now become a reality.”

Covanta’s UK Managing Director, Malcolm Chilton added: “Our Energy-from-Waste facility will be the heart of the eco-park which we believe will be a model for the future. It represents the most sensible and viable alternative to our country’s current over reliance on landfill for municipal and business waste. It will provide the energy and means to truly make recycling and reprocessing a reality and not just an aspiration.”