A closer look at the new £32 million household recycling centre, which is being built in Aldridge.

Express & Star

Transcript

00:00So Daniel Watt with the Express and Star, we're here on Middlemore Lane in Walsall

00:04where we're standing in the new £32 million state-of-the-art recycling facility,

00:10recycling and rubbish facility.

00:11So what we're standing in here, if you want to take a quick look around,

00:14is the main hub where the council and contractor-owned vehicles will come in,

00:19get rid of the waste.

00:20So we've just spoken to Councillor Kerry Murphy

00:26who said that around about over here just in the corner past the cherry picker,

00:31in the far corner down there, you'd be able to fit pretty much the entirety

00:36of the Friars Road tip that's currently there, the Friars Road Recycling Centre.

00:42So we're around here just taking a walk around to have a look around.

00:45It's £32 million investment that's gone into this construction.

00:50They hope that when it's completed, which they said they hope it's going to be done

00:54by around about December or just prior to December,

00:57that it's going to help alleviate a lot of troubles that the council's having

01:00at the moment, say, with landfill, with obviously fly tipping as well.

01:05So this is also going to contain an upcycling centre as well,

01:09which we've been talking about previously,

01:11which will mean that a lot of the items that do get put into here

01:14will be upcycled by a local group, which will also hire apprentices.

01:20Then also make it back onto the streets where people can pay a heavily reduced price

01:25for pretty much what is as good as new.

01:27So yeah, we're going to go around.

01:28We're going to talk to the councillors later on as well

01:29to get an update on how it's going.

01:32But yeah, stick up to date and have a look around with us.

01:35Yes, we're here with councillor Adrian Andrew and obviously councillor Kerry Murphy.

01:38Well, hello both of you.

01:39So what are we down here to do today?

01:40We're here to show you, obviously, the new build,

01:43which is going to be the HWR, say, for Aldridge, Brown Hills and the rest of Walsall,

01:51but obviously mainly on the east side of the borough, I think, isn't it?

01:54At the moment, Blocksbridge, I suppose.

01:56That's fantastic.

01:57So we've already walked through a bit of the site already.

01:59One of the parts I walked through was the sort of upcycling part,

02:02the upcycling part, the upcycling centre,

02:03which is a first of its kind, I believe, in the area.

02:06Yeah.

02:07That's right, isn't it?

02:07It is, yes, yeah.

02:08It's a new area that we're focusing on

02:12to stop things going to, obviously, landfill now,

02:15such as big items like mordraves, drawers, etc.

02:20And it'll help, obviously, start people who are in no harms, etc.

02:25They'll be able to come and upcycle these and use them for starter harms,

02:29which is good for the environment and good for people's pockets, basically.

02:33Absolutely fantastic.

02:33So it's obviously going to be sold on, isn't it?

02:36It's going to be sort of sold on, isn't it?

02:37But it's going to be, well, I think you said, like a reduced product, like a heavily reduced price.

02:40Yeah, it will be sold on and we'll be expecting and hoping that people,

02:45when they come to the tip and they've got a wardrobe or they've got a set of drawers,

02:48instead of putting it in the skip, they can actually drop it off at the reuse place

02:52and then it'll be sold on and put back into the economy

02:56and have a new lease of life, which I think everybody would love to have.

03:00Absolutely, yeah, definitely, definitely myself included.

03:03So obviously one of the big things that we're hoping that this will help is fly tipping,

03:08which is sometimes these type of items that you might find in an upcycling centre.

03:12It's something that's going to try and help reduce that sort of...

03:15We're doing everything we can in terms of reducing fly tipping.

03:18The reuse centre will help, our trade waste will help.

03:23And building this state-of-the-art facility, we're investing in the future.

03:27So, you know, household waste and recycling will come to this site

03:30and also people will be able to bring their own waste from their gardens,

03:34from their houses and whatever, to this site as well

03:36in order to dispose of it in an environmentally friendly way.

03:41Absolutely, yeah.

03:41So as for the trade waste items,

03:43because it's going to be small trade waste, isn't it?

03:46Is it going to be small trade waste?

03:47So with that, is that going to be...

03:49That's going to be accessible to anyone to pass trade waste in there,

03:54obviously to stop it from going back onto the street, I suppose.

03:56I think that'll be offered to small traders,

04:00man with a van, et cetera,

04:01and particularly to Walsall people, people who are working in Walsall.

04:05There will be a charge for that service,

04:08but that will be a unique offer within the immediate area.

04:15So as for the opening date,

04:17obviously there's a lot of work going on for it.

04:20We're hoping it's ported for, I believe, before December, is that right?

04:24That's right, yeah.

04:25We think the completion will be sort of towards the end of August,

04:29but obviously we've got to put things in place,

04:31so we're helping just November, December,

04:34to look at actually opening it into the public.

04:36Absolutely, but obviously works are works.

04:38Yeah.

04:39Obviously, yes.

04:40So we're looking at...

04:41It's 32 million is the number that we've got

04:44for how much the investment's going to the site.

04:46I mean, it's going to be...

04:47It's a lot coming for such a return, isn't it?

04:50For such an investment.

04:51If you put that into the context

04:53that this site should last for 50 years

04:55and serve hundreds of thousands of people

04:58within the borough for the next 50 years,

05:01you know, that's not such a big number

05:04when you put it into that context.

05:05That includes the purchase of the land.

05:07That includes the build.

05:10You know, when we're making this environmentally friendly,

05:11it's going to be powered with solar panels.

05:14So that's the kind of thing that we're investing in in Walsall

05:17to make our place cleaner, greener, safer and stronger.

05:21And I think the other thing is we are investing in the future.

05:24You know, the corporate social responsibility

05:27that has been achieved and sort of generated from this site

05:31is incredible.

05:33And the speed in which this development has gone up

05:36has been absolutely incredible.

05:38And Morgansin have been an incredible organisation to work with.

05:42Fantastic.

05:43I was just going to add, I don't know, we've had obviously...

05:45Absolutely, absolutely.

05:46They've used 365 apprentices from Warsaw.

05:49The gates, the big doors are being used by a local company

05:55here in Aldridge.

05:56So it's been great for the economy as well.

05:57This build, it's been amazing.

06:00And using young people, getting them into the building trade.

06:03I think this is fantastic for Walsall and its residents,

06:07obviously economy-wise and for the future.

06:12Absolutely.

06:12And there is a question about, obviously,

06:13the Friars Road and Merchants Way.

06:16You know, will they...

06:17Because I think we said that Merchants Way

06:19will perhaps eventually be phased out.

06:22It will, yeah.

06:23So we're now looking to do a new build on Friars Road

06:27because that's extremely old like this

06:30and it doesn't make for regulations anymore.

06:33So that will obviously have to shut down for a while.

06:36But this will be up and running

06:37and we will keep Merchants Way

06:39and make sure that everything's still running smoothly.

06:42Then we can start on Friars Road as our next project.

06:45Oh, fantastic.

06:46So all in all...

06:47Positive.

06:48Positive.

06:49Very much on track.

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