A £50 MILLION plant to superheat Medway’s household rubbish could be built just across the river from the new-look Chatham waterfront.

The scheme was unveiled by Skipaway, but the new plant would not be an incinerator belching out smoke, insists the company’s boss.

However, Medway councillors had earlier approved a new waste strategy that could allow a incinerator to be built.

It marks an about-turn in council strategy.

Cllr Phil Filmer, portfolio holder for rubbish, said at the last council meeting that incineration would only be used if alternative methods proved more costly.

The short council debate was listened to by Skipaway’s managing director, Mark Orsbourn. Afterwards, he said his company planned to build the new plant within a building at its site on the Medway City Estate.

He insisted it was not an incinerator, but used similar techniques to old-fashioned town gas plants that created coke.

The plant would heat waste that could not be recycled in other ways. The heat would produce energy for the National Grid, and the resulting clinker would be combined with the gas to produce building blocks.

He said the proposed waste-to-energy plant was being planned in conjunction with the University of Greenwich.

The company hopes to complete the scheme in three years, and pitch for Medway’s refuse collection contract.

Skipaway’s premises are on the opposite bank of the River Medway to Chatham waterfront.

Mr Orsbourn said it was difficult to explain the principle of his plant, but insisted that waste was a resource that should be used.

He said: "Our plan uses advanced thermal technology. It’s like creating charcoal from wood, or coke from coal."

If the scheme was approved by the council’s planners, and Skipaway won the 2009 contract to dispose of Medway’s household rubbish, Mr Orsbourn believes more than 90 per cent of the Towns' rubbish could be converted in this way.