The completion of the Andover Transfer Station, the delivery point for three different types of household waste in the North West of the county, has been given an official seal of approval by local dignitaries. Built at a cost of £1.25 million, it has the capacity to handle 50,000 tonnes of waste per year.

Councillors and officers from Test Valley Borough Council and Hampshire County Council joined representatives of Hampshire Waste Services, the waste disposal contractor to the local authorities, on site to see how the Transfer Station acts as a major link in the waste recycling and disposal network now being put in place throughout the county.

Collection lorries from Test Valley call in to the site to drop off household waste from dustbins and the separated recyclable materials and this, together with the green garden waste from the Household Waste Recycling Centres, is then transported in bulk to various processing centres.

"This is a wonderful and very necessary facility" commented Councillor Anthony Hope, "which has been very thoughtfully constructed to create the minimal disruption to the area. The cleanliness of the operation came as a pleasant surprise."

The Andover site is one of several similar centres in the county, based locally to urban areas so that the collection lorries need not travel long distances to unload. Known as the "proximity principle" the theory is that it saves on journey times, and the bulk transportation reduces the number of lorries on the roads thereby easing congestion and exhaust fumes.

It is part of a massive integrated infrastructure being put into place - known as Project Integra - to cope with the 750,000 tonnes of waste thrown away by householders in the county each year. Unless people change their throw away habits, the amount is expected to rise to 800,000 by the year 2000.

New recycling and composting centres developed over the past three years have already helped Hampshire achieve a recycling rate of 17% - more than twice the national average. The remainder of the waste is buried in landfill sites. The next phase of development by Hampshire Waste includes plans for three energy recovery incinerators, which will recover energy from the waste it consumes and feed electricity to local homes via the Local Grid. One is planned to serve the South West near Southampton, one to serve the South East at Portsmouth, and one to serve the North of the County near Basingstoke.

To date more than £20 million has been invested in the waste recycling and disposal facilities, which, according to Hampshire Waste Managing Director, Keith Riley, "will give Hampshire one of the most adventurous and challenging waste management programmes in the world".