New UK processing facility opens

Guests representing both the UK and the international waste industry participated in the official opening of the new HUB situated in St. Marks Street outside Hull City Centre. After the opening ceremony by the Deputy Lord Mayor and Councillor, Kalvin Neal, and CEO of Geminor, Kjetil Vikingstad, the participants were taken on a site tour where the construction history and technical aspects of the HUB were presented.

The construction of the processing facility has been conducted by engineering company Keltbray, with a total investment of approx. 10 million Pounds. The 11,000 square meter facility includes a 3,400 square meter steel framed hall built for the sorting and treatment of municipal and commercial waste. Most of the HUB capacity will be used to cater for Geminor’s long-term contract with Hull City Council, a contract that runs until 2030 with an annual waste volume of 68 000 tonnes.

The HUB is equipped with the latest industry requirements and technology, such as Exeons Odour Abatement system, Helios Fire Suppression, alongside plant vs people proximity sensors to ensure safety.

David Singh is the project manager for the Hull processing facility at Geminor UK.
“The journey has been incredible, from the point of sourcing land back in 2018 and all the way up to the opening ceremony. Brexit, Covid-19, and the somewhat significant weather conditions sometimes caused challenges, but not more than we could handle. We are well underway in commissioning the facility, and look forward to operating in May,” says David Singh.

Country Manager at Geminor UK, Oliver Caunce, is very pleased to see the new facility in operation after months of hard work from the UK team.

“The establishment of our new HUB is an important move for Geminor and will enable us to grow further in the UK. The investment shows our commitment to the domestic and international renewable market, and we will shortly be supplying EfW-operators in the UK and across Scandinavia at full capacity,” says Oliver Caunce.

“At the moment we are preparing for Phase 2, which in practice is implementing our Group knowledge and expertise on removing more of the plastic from the local, residual waste. This will make us able to produce low carbon secondary fuels as well as more plastic fractions for chemical recycling,” says Oliver Caunce.

CEO Kjetil Vikingstad emphasizes the strategic importance of the new facility.

“We are delighted that everything has gone according to plan and that we now can operate our first processing facility outside of the Nordics. The HUB will be strategically important with respect to our partner Hull City Council, but also in our efforts to optimize secondary waste fuel supply in the domestic and export markets.”

“The opening of the Hull facility means that we now have waste processing operations not only in import markets but also in export markets such as the UK. This will make it easier to deliver on the demands from the international industry operators,” concludes the CEO at Geminor, Kjetil Vikingstad.