Crowley wins £12m nappy recycling plant job

Irish contractor Crowley has won the contract for a £12m nappy recycling plant in Birmingham.

The mechanical engineering specialist has picked up the job from recycling firm Knowaste, which is planning to build four centres in cities across the country, including London.

Construction work on the plant at Tyseley in Birmingham is due to start next month, with the first dirty nappies due to be recycled by the end of the year.

Planning permission was granted last week for the plant, which will recycle 36,000 tonnes of nappies a year.

The recycling process turns the nappies into plastic which can be used for building materials, such as roof tiles and cladding panels. Green energy will also be generated from sludge created by the process, which will be converted into methane.

Knowaste is now looking at other sites across the UK and will be holding road shows in major cities to outline its plans.

The company is already in discussions with Mayor of London Boris Johnson and has looked at potential sites in Newcastle and Sheffield.

Roy Brown, president and CEO of Knowaste, said: "Our longer-term goal is to open plants in other locations in the UK, which will further enable local authorities to meet their increasingly tough landfill diversion targets and avoid landfill taxes and penalties.

"When all our plants are fully up and running, 13% of all the UK's nappy waste will be diverted away from landfill and recycled."