Ernie Clark. Hilperton Division, Wiltshire Council.

A unique opportunity to see the plant before it fills with rubbish.

Wiltshire Councillors visited the new plant on the Northacre Trading Estate yesterday.

Construction is almost complete and the building is due to formally open in October.

A contract was signed in April 2010 for the Mechanical Biological Treatment (MBT) plant with building starting in August 2011.

When it opens, the plant will take 60,000 tons of household waste a year, but it has the capacity to take upto 100,000 tons.

The resulting fuel was intended to be used at the Lafarge Westbury cement works but, of course, this has now closed. As a consequence the fuel will now be shipped to Germany!

The commercial details of the contract were not revealed to councillors but every ton of waste incinerated saves WC from an £80 'fine' had it gone to landfill.