Frequently asked questions

SUEZ recycling and recovery UK is one of the country’s leading providers of innovative recycling and waste management services.

 

SUEZ employs more than 6,200 people in the UK and since 1988 we have been managing waste for local authority and business customers.

 

We operate 48 energy generating facilities in the UK and have a long-standing operation serving businesses in and around West London from our sites in Hayes, Ruislip and Brentford.

SUEZ is proposing to develop an anaerobic digestion facility at our site on Holloway Lane.

 

The proposed facility would create reliable, renewable gas that will help decarbonise the gas grid by reducing CO2 emissions and improving the UK’s energy security. It will do this by using food that has been thrown away, as well as other agricultural by-products, as a fuel to generate the energy.

 

The proposed anaerobic digestion facility would help ensure that food waste generated by homes and businesses is processed in the most environmentally friendly way possible.

 

If granted permission, the facility would be open in 2027/28 and would have the capacity to generate enough energy to supply gas to up to 8,200 homes by recycling up to 100,000 tonnes of food waste a year.

Before submitting a planning application, SUEZ will be running a six-week pre-application consultation between 11 February to 24 March 2025 to inform the local community and stakeholders about the proposals for the anaerobic digestion facility.

 

Once the consultation period has concluded and SUEZ has reviewed the feedback, a planning application will be submitted in 2025.

 

If approved, construction could begin in 2026/27, and the facility could start operating in 2027/28.

Our site is located on Holloway Lane in West London. It is situated between the villages of Harmondsworth and Sipson north of Heathrow Airport.

We have already undertaken a detailed Alternative Site Assessment study before bringing these plans forward for public consultation.

 

This study has considered this site amongst a total of 876 potential waste management sites across West London and looked at their suitability for developing an anaerobic digestion facility.

 

It concluded that Holloway Lane is the only potential site within the defined area of search which is considered capable of accommodating the proposed facility.

 

Key points:

• It is already in use as a waste management site with minimal impact on local communities. The restored Holloway Lane landfill provides a natural buffer between the operation, and being in a quarry provides some screening.
• The site has good transport links to West London and the motorway network and HGVs would not pass through villages.
• Close proximity to sources of food waste – We intend to generate gas from food that is thrown away from homes and businesses such as food outlets, breweries and hotels in the local area.
• There are no facilities of this type in West London and so this will fill a significant gap in capacity for processing food waste and other organic materials.
• Close proximity to the proposed gas grid entry point - the gas produced at the facility would be connected to the grid on Holloway Lane.
• Close proximity to aggregate processing sites and Heathrow Airport, both of which could use the carbon dioxide captured from the facility.

The enclosed anaerobic digestion processing building will be 1,950m² with a maximum height of approximately 16m. The associated treatment tanks and storage facilities will have a maximum diameter of 32m and a maximum height of approximately 17m. The other stacks and infrastructure are approximately 18m high.

Anaerobic digestion is a continuous process so the facility would operate 24/7. Most deliveries would take place between 7am and 7pm, with a small fleet of collection vehicles departing before 7am.

SUEZ is working to help reduce food waste and put food that is wasted to good use generating renewable energy in accordance with the government’s Our Waste, Our Resources Strategy for England.

 

Anaerobic digestion facilities like the one proposed here can help the government meet its ambitions to eliminate food waste going to landfill by 2030. In addition, the biogas created from food waste provides a source of renewable energy. The gas and electricity generated by the facility would be exported to the local distribution network and electricity used to power the plant.

 

One of the major benefits of anaerobic digestion is the reduction in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere, as a result of the following:

• Putting food waste to good use by generating renewable energy and recovering nutrients to return to the land.
• Renewable energy is generated by the facility and therefore the reduction of carbon dioxide (CO₂) released from fossil fuels.

Working with local communities is important to us. We are committed to ensuring that the local area is protected and enhanced as far as possible and will not be adversely impacted by the development.

 

At this stage, our plans include:

• Enhancing biodiversity on the site Undertaking additional landscaping and planting along the boundaries of the site
• Designs to ensure the building is fully enclosed, minimising both odour and noise
• Being open and transparent with local communities and residents, engaging in conversations about our facility and answering any questions you may have

 

Everything we do would be highly regulated and subject to regular inspection and would need to meet the high standards set by a combination of Hillingdon Council as the planning authority and the Environment Agency which would need to issue a permit for the site to go ahead. If there is anything that is unacceptable these two bodies would not permit the development to go ahead.

HGVs would access the site via Holloway Lane and the M4, turning left into the site and turning right when they leave. This would ensure no traffic travels through the villages of Harmondsworth or Sipson, apart from the collection vehicles are collecting food waste from these villages.

There would be some additional traffic during construction, and this would be required to following the same routeing strategy set out above i.e. no HGVs travelling through the villages of Sipson or Harmondsworth. Construction traffic will be subject to a Traffic Management Plan to ensure safe movement of traffic in and around the site.

If the facility operates at maximum capacity (100,000 tonnes of waste a year), we expect there to be a maximum of 250 two-way HGV trips to and from the site per day, comprising 125 in and 125 out.

The management of food waste does give rise to odours within the reception hall itself, but outside the facility, there should be minimal, if any odours coming from inside it. Any odour that is released would be minimal and would disperse very quickly.

Anaerobic digestion is an alternative way of processing food waste, while also generating renewable energy and retaining vital nutrients that can be returned to the land. The process is called anaerobic because it takes place in a sealed tank without oxygen. Like composting, it is a natural process dependent on the micro-organisms that break down organic waste.

There is a national need to reduce food waste and to recover renewable energy and nutrients from the waste. If approved, the proposed anaerobic digestion facility will do just that, by turning food waste into a renewable and reliable supply of biomethane gas, and digestate, a compost-like soil improver. Anaerobic digestion is well-established in the UK and is a reliable technology to transform food waste into renewable energy.

 

The proposed facility would turn food waste into biogas and digestate. The biogas will be upgraded to biomethane which can be sent to homes and businesses via the gas grid or converted into electricity via generators at the facility. The digestate is a compost-like soil improver, that can be used as a replacement for fertiliser.

The anaerobic digestion facility is designed to handle up to 100,000 tonnes of food waste per year. We envisage that this would come from homes and businesses in London.

 

It would not be processing all of London’s food waste. Other facilities are needed in other parts of the city.

The facility has been designed to generate up to 26,430m³ per day of gas. This is enough to supply gas to the equivalent of 8,200 homes.

Our facility will either send gas directly into the local gas network after cleaning, or turn it into electricity, via gas-powered CHP engine and export it to the local electricity grid.

More than 7,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year would be captured from the process. It would then be liquified and used in the manufacturing industry.

We are holding a six-week public consultation from Tuesday 11 February 2025 – Monday 24 March 2025.

 

This pre-application consultation will allow local communities to learn about our project and share their views with us before we submit a planning application to Hillingdon Council.

You can find out more and give us your views before we submit our planning application by coming to one of our community drop-in events or contacting us.

• Thursday 06 March 2025, 12 pm – 8 pm
• Friday 07 March 2025, 9 am – 5 pm

St Mary’s Church, High St, Harmondsworth, UB7 0AQ

If you would like to share your views on the proposal, please get in touch with us.