RECYCLING giant SITA hopes to create 30 new jobs at a new multi-million pound waste centre in Darwen.

SITA, the UK subsidary of French energy supplier Suez Environment, paid £3.2million for the 22-acre site in Lower Eccleshill Road last year, which had belonged to ink manufacturer Wolstenholme International Ltd.

The company has now announced it will be investing another £5million in the site to create a materials recycling facility (MRF), capable of sorting and baling up to 35,000 tonnes per year of mixed dry recyclables, such as paper, card, cans, and plastics, collected from local businesses.

Martin Cracknell, of SITA, said: “It would offer an essential service for local businesses, presenting them with the means to reduce their impact on the environment through increased recycling and the diversion of waste away from landfill.”

Planning consent would allow all materials delivered to the site to be unloaded, sorted and baled within the MRF building.

Only the tipping of glass into a specially-constructed glass holding bay would take place outdoors.

SITA said the non-decaying nature of the material that would be handled would ‘all but eliminate’ the potential for waste odours, and the unloading of light materials such as paper, card and plastic within the building would ‘significantly limit the potential for noise, dust and litter’.

Sudell councillor Roy Davies said: “Creating 30 jobs is a good thing, but the concern I have is traffic control at the entrance.

“It’s very near a bridge and there could be 20 wagons a day moving in and out.

"There are also distribution centres and factories around there, so there is the potential for congestion.”

SITA UK intends to submit its planning application to Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council towards the end of the month.