Helmdon

Helmdon

Helmdon Blackpits AD and Compost Facility

The Blackpits Recycling Centre is located at Blackpits Farm, Welsh Road, Helmdon, Northamptonshire, NN13 5QD. Material Change operates both the open windrow compost facility and Gas to Grid AD Plant at the site.

Compost Site

The Material Change site is permitted to receive up to 75,000 tonnes per annum of biodegradable household, commercial and industrial waste. The open windrow composting site processes 25,000 tonnes of green and clean wood waste per annum.

Incoming green waste is shredded and windrowed prior to screening at 25mm. All oversize is re-processed. A total period of not less than 8 weeks’ elapses before material can be sold from site to allow sanitisation and stabilisation of the compost.

The site operates to PAS:100 & Compost Quality Protocol standards and all compost made at the site is classed as product.

In addition to the composting operation, Material Change operates a waste transfer operation bulking black bag waste collected by South Northamptonshire Council for onwards transfer to an energy from waste processing facility. This local drop off facility saves the Council’s refuse collection vehicles many road miles and helps minimise council tax costs for residents.

Please contact Phil Adams, Compost Sales Manager on 07825 847345

AD Facility

Material Change operates the Gas to Grid anaerobic digestion facility at the site (owned by Helmdon Blackpits Power Limited) which injects over 450m3 gas per hour into the National Grid near Brackley, Northamptonshire. The site uses maize, rye and grass supplied by local farmers to produce the gas which is then cleaned up with a membrane technology which separates the methane from other gases produced during the digestion processes. The methane is purified further before being mixed with a small percentage of propane so that it can be injected into the gas grid and used in the exactly the same way by consumers and industry. Although there is no direct control, the majority of the time residents of Brackley and beyond are supplied with gas from the site and are using renewable gas in their homes.

The membrane system also splits out the carbon dioxide which is then liquified and sold to Air Liquide for use in numerous industrial processes including adding the fizz to fizzy drinks.

The output from the processes is 20,000 tonnes a year of digestate which is used by the farms that grew the crops to add organic matter and nutrients back to the land. We are always keen to talk to farmers who want to grow crops for the site and enjoy the agricultural benefits of a good break crop, helping them control black grass and other weeds.

Material Change has supplied digestate to various agricultural and horticultural trials helping strawberry growers improve yields, and it is increasingly being used as a vegan fertiliser.

Contact:

Compost Site: Jason Payne – Site Manager

Telephone: 07917 422361

AD Plant:

Guil Steyn – Senior Plant Manager – 07824 691445

Ben Giles – Plant Manager – 07904 870656

Hours of Operation:

Compost Site

Monday to Friday: 7.00am to 17.00pm

Saturday:              7.00am to 13:00pm

Sundays and Bank Holidays: Closed

AD Plant:

Appointments by arrangement

Site Permit Number:

Compost Site: EPR/FP3798VJ

AD Plant: EPR/FB3909XW


Click below to download our ‘Typical Green Waste Analysis 2016‘ pdf.

Click below to download our ‘Helmdon Waste Management Licence‘ pdf.


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