Kent County Council (KCC) has launched a new £2 million waste transfer station which will allow the introduction of kerbside food bins in one borough.

The centre, serving Sevenoaks was officially opened yesterday (Wednesday).

The waste transfer station is where all the domestic rubbish collected by Sevenoaks District Council via the regular wheelie bins collections, is taken, before being sorted for onward disposal or recycling.

Green waste, for example, is sent to Enval at Swanley, street sweepings to Biffa at Horsham, bulky waste to Countrystyle at Ridham, near Sittingbourne and a large part is sent to the Kent Enviropower incinerator at Allington where it is burnt to generate electricity.

The new transfer station is right next door to the existing one off Main Road at Dunbrik in Sundridge.

Phil Morgan is the managing director of CGS Managing Waste, the KCC-owned company that operates the transfer station. He said: “The old site is failing. It’s very old and too small.”

The new one stretches across 1.1 hectares - five times as large as the existing facility.

It is effectively a giant shed, measuring 75m long, 40m wide and 30m high, which is divided internally into eight bays.

But there are a number of other improvements over the old site, which has been operating since 1990.

Fire is a constant worry at a waste station - there have been two large fires at the existing site in the past years.

The new shed has a built-in water deluge system - essentially giant sprinklers - over each bay that are fed with water from a 600,000 litre storage tank.

Should a fire break out in one of the bays, that bay and the two bays adjacent to it are automatically soaked in water.

Sometimes a fire occurs in the rubbish within a collection vehicle and the new site includes a fire protection zone, where the vehicle can be isolated while the problem is dealt with.

The other problems connected to waste stations are dust and smell.

The old station, which is partially open in nature, stinks and it is a good job there is no housing nearby.

The new centre has automatically closing roller doors, that will shut after the collection vehicles enter the shed, helping to contain the smell within.

In addition, the building is fitted with a diffuser system that sprays a light mist of scented water into the air, suppressing dust and keeping the workforce smelling sweet.

They can even choose between cherry, cut-grass or apple fragrances.

Both the old and new sites are on land leased from the Darenth River Ballast Company, owned by the Durtnell family.

The River Darent borders the new site. Surface water from the building’s roof and hardstanding will be collected in gullies and then pumped into a large water attenuation tank, where it will be released into the river at a controlled rate approved by the Environment Agency.

In the event of the deluge system operating because of a fire, a valve automatically closes off the tank, and any fire-polluted run-off stays in the gullies until it is sucked up and taken elsewhere for disposal, in order to avoid polluting the water course.

KCC has sought to future-proof the operation as much as possible.

The old transfer station dealt with 37,800 tons of waste last year. The new station can process up to 75,000 tons.

The extra capacity will allow Sevenoaks District Council to start collecting food waste separately, something it currently doesn’t do.

Some of the internal bay walls in the shed are also temporary in nature - made out of ”giant Lego blocks.” This is so that the size of the bays can be altered in future to adjust to changing patterns in waste types.

Cllr Rob Thomas is the KCC cabinet member for the environment. He explained: “We needed a larger facility because the tonnage of waste has increased because of housing growth.

“Also changes in legislation require us to collect and segregate more materials for recycling.”

The council said it had cast around Sevenoaks for a new site, but could find none better than this one, right next door to the old.

It has the benefit of close proximity to the strategic road network - it’s just a short distance from the M25 - and is also close to the district council’s own waste depot.

The site, which has been leased from Darenth Valley River Ballast for 30 years, was previously a composting yard.

Planning permission was granted in 2021 and construction began in July last year.

The ribbon was cut by KCC chairman Cllr Brian Sweetland.

The site will become fully operational next week, and there will be a three-week hand-over period before the old site is closed, cleaned and handed back to the freeholders.

The opening of the new transfer station does not affect residents who want to dispose of their own rubbish. The Sevenoaks Household Waste Recycling Centre remains unaffected.