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You are here: CIWM  >  Publications  >  Latest News  >  MTS Cleansing Services Invest In In-Vessel Composting Units

MTS Cleansing Services Invest In In-Vessel Composting Units

15 March 2011

MTS Cleansing Services Ltd will soon launch 'HotRot', New-Zealand-designed in-vessel composting units that can convert sewage grits and screening waste into valuable fertilizer in just 12 days. It has already received the necessary permit from the Environment Agency for sewage waste treatment in the new composting units.

The company, which is based on the Kingsnorth Works, near Hoo St Werburgh, is reportedly investing £1.9 million in the purchase and installation of the units, which will help tackle Britain's sewage disposal problem. The machines are being built in converted buildings near the MTS head office and will be operational starting April this year.

Composting Facility Services (CFS), a sister company of MTS, will run the composting side of the business and has received bank funding from Santander Corporate Banking. Nash-Harvey and Vertex Law are providing the financial and legal advice respectively.

MTS managing director, Antony Crust said: "We have a fleet of 220 vehicles collecting sewage locally and across the South East from the main sewage network run by the utilities as well as sewage treatment farms. The waste we collect contains nitrogen and rather than dumping the sewage we're going to be turning it into a valuable resource. If you compost it using the technology we're investing in, it turns into safe, odourless, eco-friendly fertiliser, just like the compost you buy in bags at DIY stores."

Speaking on the benefits of the product, he added: "Agricultural land will benefit from this product - as will farmers, who love it, because it's greener and cheaper than chemical fertiliser. We already have a consortium of ten farmers with approximately 50,000 acres of land available to take anything we produce."

MTS future plans look very ambitious, which include purchasing four more "HotRot" units in the next 12 months. This will help treat 27,000 tonnes of sewage waste a year. By the end of the decade CFS wants to see 50 in-vessel composter units in place across Southern England.

Krishna Buddhirjau