We're so excited to have been appointed to manage the waste generated by Linmere's new community hub, the Farmstead – choosing a local firm with the aim of minimising its impact on the environment

As a family run business operating over the last 70 years, our focus has always been on ‘giving new life’ to waste through sustainable recycling and resource management. Some of the team from Linmere recently visited the Cawley plant to ensure that the waste will be treated correctly.

The arrangement will mean that the majority of the waste produced at the new community hub will either be recycled or converted into energy. Unusual uses for the rubbish include transforming coffee grounds from the new café into logs for wood burning stoves!

Being one of the largest family-run waste management companies in East Anglia, the South Midlands and the South East, our facilities are capable of processing high volumes of waste. Our Materials Recycling Facility has an impressive processing rate which handles around 1,200 tonnes of waste a day. It is equipped with more than 3km of conveyor belts, uses high tech optical detectors to separate plastic from paper and state-of-the-art magnetic technology to sort metals.

The Farmstead waste will be repurposed in a number of ways. Paper and card will be graded and baled before being sent to a paper mill to be pulped and eventually made into new paper.

Plastics will be shredded or granulated to produce a ‘regrind’ material which can be recycled into new plastic products. Metals will be sorted into ferrous and non-ferrous materials and then melted and reformed into new metal products and glass will be crushed, mixed and melted to create new glass items or used in building materials.

Food waste is anaerobically digested, creating green energy often exported to the National Grid.

The waste management service will collect from all areas of the Farmstead – the community hall, the café, and other retailers, along with the bins near the children’s play area.

Household waste on Linmere will be dealt with separately - via the usual local council recycling service.

Linmere development director Nigel Reid said: “Obviously we want to minimise our burden on the planet when it comes to waste, which is why we chose to work with a local partner such as Cawleys. We will be providing dedicated receptacles to enable users to sort recyclable materials from waste which has to go to landfill and will make it as easy as possible for everyone to do the right thing. This approach fits in with our wider Linmere ethos of enjoying the natural environment.”

Anna Cawley, Cawleys’ Customer Services Director, added “Being chosen as Linmere’s recycling partner is a huge honour. The local community is very close to our hearts and being part of this new community from the very start means we can help the development grow in a sustainable way by ensuring all the waste generated from the new Farmstead hub is recycled to its maximum capacity. Our state-of-the-art materials recycling facility is at the very heart of our ethos of ensuring waste is put to good use and the fact that we are local and waste miles can be kept to a minimum is another bonus.”

Around a third of Linmere’s 650 acres will not be developed, with 90 acres of this being formal public open space. The rest will be managed land, allowing natural habitats to thrive.

In total around 5,150 homes will be built over the next 15 years by the Houghton Regis Management Company (HRMC), a consortium comprising master planners Lands Improvement, Aviva Investors, and the Diocese of St Albans.

Linmere will see the creation of two brand new state of the art primary schools and an extension to Houghton Regis’ existing Thornhill Primary school, due to open this September. A ten-form secondary school will open in September 2022.