FOR 35 years Viridor’s Heathfield Landfill site, off John Acres Lane, between Kingsteignton and Chudleigh, has taken the waste from Newton Abbot and the south Devon area, and provided safe essential disposal services for local authorities and businesses in the county.

When it closed after receiving its final delivery on Friday, the site had taken more than eight million tonnes of waste.

For the past 14 years it has played its part in providing more than £5 million for local community projects through direct sponsorship and partnerships, via the Landfill Communities Fund. The money, a reclaimed proportion of landfill tax, was distributed by Viridor Credits, an independent, not-for-profit organisation.

Viridor Credits has funded 321 projects in the area, ranging from community, heritage and biodiversity large and small, most recently the Viridor Credits Board awarded £200,000 for the regeneration of Victoria Park, Buckfastleigh.

Heathfield – not to be confused with the village two or three miles away – has been a key site in the growth of Viridor, enabling it to become one of the leading recycling, renewable energy and resource management companies in the UK.

Ian Morrish, Viridor’s director of landfill energy, said that during the last 30 years the team at Heathfield had worked tirelessly to responsibly manage waste from the south west.

‘The site is an important pioneer in the production of reliable renewable energy from landfill gas,’ he said, welcoming members of the team past and present.

Now the company will actively manage the site aftercare, ensuring that the landfill gas from the decomposing waste is harnessed in a series of gas engines and continues to generate vital renewable power. The rest of the site will be capped and restored to a variety of land uses including woodland and heathland, to create valuable local wildlife habitats.

Viridor has worked with Devon Wildlife Trust to ensure maximum biodiversity value.

The residual (non recyclable) waste that went to Heathfield is now sent to the Exeter Energy Recovery Facility, a facility delivered in partnership between Devon County Council and Viridor. The ERF treats 60,000 tonnes of non-recyclable waste a year and has a power generating capacity of 3.5 megawatts, enough electricity to power 5,000 homes.

Landfills are in sharp decline across the UK, as recycling and energy recovery technology provides more sustainable and resource efficient options for waste materials.

Viridor is currently accelerating its landfill wind-down and aftercare programme, reducing its operational landfill portfolio from 18 to three strategically located sites nationwide in the next few years.