Ambitious plans to turn methane gas from a rubbish dump into electricity to power thousands of homes were today unveiled.

An energy company has put in an application to Essex County Council to build and run a methane conversion plant at Barling landfill site, near Great Wakering.

The application, from Energy Development Limited, comes just weeks after the county council gave waste disposal company Cleanaway planning permission to build a similar plant at the Pitsea landfill site.

Bosses at EDL hope to use the latest hi-tech machinery to extract methane gas from rubbish at the Barling site and convert it into electricity.

Rotting waste produces methane naturally. The gas will be used to generate electricity which will be connected up to the national electricity grid to be used by people in their homes.

Marketing development executive for EDL David Murray said: "It is a fantastic opportunity for this company and for the area.

"Methane is 21 times more dangerous to the ozone layer than carbon dioxide and by converting it into power not only do we create electricity, we also cut down on the amount of greenhouse gases going into the atmosphere.

"The methane conversion plants are getting more and more sophisticated and they have proved very successful in other sites in the UK in dealing with waste management problems."

Development control officer for Essex County Council Ron Leavitt said he felt positive about EDL's plans.

He said: "Conversion plants are something we would like to see on all landfill sites.

"EDL's application is still in its very early stages. We will study the principles of the application and if they are acceptable then we will let planning go ahead."

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