Sunderland’s new household waste and recycling centre to boost city’s green plan

A NEW, £5m-plus state-of-the-art Household Waste and Recycling Centre (HWRC) opened in Sunderland this week and immediately began delivering on the city’s green ambitions.

The centre, in Pallion, at 16,000sqm, is more than five times the size of its ageing predecessor in Beach Street and boasts numerous environmentally-friendly features.

The increasingly cramped Beach Street site opened in the early ’80s and last year handled more than 193,000 visits and over 9,600 tonnes of recyclable materials and waste.

But the new Pallion HWRC, which stretches across the size of roughly two football pitches, will make it much easier for residents to recycle and dispose of their waste, offering much-improved facilities and better access. 

It is capable of handling 3,000 vehicles a day and more than a million visits annually.

It also marks a major leap forward for the city council’s ambitious target of being carbon net-zero by 2030.

With solar panels, rainwater harvesting and low-energy lighting, the new HWRC is much more energy-efficient than the previous site, and will also feature a reuse shop, due to open this summer, where people can donate things to be recycled and resold rather than going to waste.

Just over half of the 9,600 tonnes of waste currently delivered to the Beach Street site is recycled, with the remainder currently being sent to an energy-from-waste facility on Teesside.

The new HWRC will continue to look at innovative ways it might enhance its contribution to the environment, as it handles everything from bagged household and garden waste, cardboard and wood, small and small domestic appliances, TVs and computers, small fridges, metal, soil, rubble, plasterboard, fluorescent tubes, engine and vegetable oil, textiles to household recycling including plastic, cans, glass and paper.

Coun Graeme Miller, leader of Sunderland City Council, said: “Sunderland is committed to being a clean, green city and this brilliant facility will make it much easier for our residents to recycle and dispose of their waste. 

“In line with the council’s commitment to the green agenda, the new site is also much more energy-efficient.

“In keeping with these green credentials, we’ve even used recycled concrete from the Rolls Royce buildings which once stood on the site in its construction.”

He added: “This is all about listening to our residents: they told us that they wanted to see bigger and better household waste and recycling facilities, and that’s something we have taken on board with this fantastic new centre.

“It should make for a much more pleasant experience, with better access to the site, undercover skips, generous parking, manoeuvring and offloading spaces and no steps between parking spaces and skips.

“ It is also large enough to provide for Sunderland’s city’s bulky waste and recycling needs well into the future as our city continues to grow, including any future recycling opportunities.”

Like Beach Street, the new Pallion site will operate an appointments system for anyone using the site.

Deputy city council leader Coun Claire Rowntree said: “We’ve kept the online booking system which has proved really popular with our residents since we first introduced it at Beach Street in 2020, and guarantees that any delays will be minimal

“I’m also very excited about the new re-use shop due to open this summer, which will be operated by a charity.”

The site will open seven days a week, only closing on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. 

For further information, to book an appointment and for details of opening times visit www.sunderland.gov.uk/hwrc