Fascinating tour of Surrey’s new Eco Park
Gareth Swain from SUEZ recycling and recovery Surrey and Cllr Natalie Bramwell from Surrey County Council gave the High Sheriff a fascinating tour of the Eco Park site in Shepperton.
The site processes waste from Surrey households and local businesses. As well as creating fuels to generate energy for the national grid (after powering itself), Eco Park will also turn food waste into fertiliser for farming.
Dr Llewelyn met some of the 120 staff at Eco Park and learned about progress, including the gasifier and anaerobic digestion (AD) plant testing and the latest landscaping works. She also visited the reuse shop – a recycling centre for residents to bring items for reuse and refurbishment.
The gasifier Converts general waste into energy. During the combustion process, gases are cleaned up in stages before being released into the air through a chimney after meeting strict environmental standards.
The Eco Park AD facility uses microorganisms to break down food waste. The process produces biogas to generate electricity and digestate, an organic material used as fertiliser on farmland.