Waste wood from Dorset and Hampshire which was previously shipped to Sweden is now being used to power homes in the UK.

Dorset-based Eco Sustainable Solutions has landed a five year contract to supply 50,000 tonnes of wood per annum to the new Margam Green wood waste plant in South Wales.

The £160m biomass-to-energy plant became fully operational last month (July) and generates power for up to 75,000 homes.

Eco is sending an average of ten truck loads of wood a day to Margam Green, working with local and national hauliers. On at least one occasion up to 16 loads have been despatched.

The wood comes from household recycling centres in Dorset and Hampshire.

Eco has held the contract with Dorset Waste Partnership to handle the county’s food, wood and green waste since 2008.

Peter Hardy, Eco’s Commercial Director, said: “This is a big contract for us but also has the added benefit of adding to our green credentials.

“Previously the wood was taken to Southampton and then shipped to Sweden for use in their power plants. The wood now stays in this country and is used to power UK homes.

“Last year, Eco’s business operations actively prevented an astounding 74,780 tonnes of CO2e from being emitted into the atmosphere.

“That was a direct result of the recycling and recovery of over 250,000 tonnes of organic waste, and the generation of electricity from our renewable energy sources in comparison to land-filling and using electricity generated from fossil fuels.

“We expect our carbon footprint to be reduced even further as result of providing wood to Margam Green rather than going by ship to Sweden.”

Founded in 1994, Eco employs 41 people and has an annual turnover of £12 million.

The company annually processes 250,000 tonnes of material at Parley. End products include enriched topsoil, compost and woodchip.

The business currently handles 300,000 tonnes of organic material each year across four facilities, including its anaerobic digestion (AD) plant at Piddlehinton near Dorchester.