It was an impressive tour which was very well organised by Veolia. I think this must be the biggest site that I have arranged a CPRE visit to over the years! It was also very helpful to be given headphones –another first. In terms of the state of the art building design you may be unaware that the building was sunk several metres below ground in order to take account of the surrounding landscape. This had an implication for potential flooding of the facility from the River Ouse. Therefore, flood defences had to be constructed to take account of a 1:200 year flood event. Every day over 200 vehicles bring waste that cannot be recycled from across East Sussex and Brighton and Hove. This diverts huge amounts of waste away from Landfill sites far and wide. With so much waste generated by our consumer society this facility is able to work non-stop. During the night the huge grabber in the enormous rubbish collecting area is operated by computers so that the two furnaces can be constantly fed. The transformation of this waste into energy is enough to power over 25,000 homes. The facility operates within stringent environmental controls, which ensures toxic substances within the waste are constantly monitored to ensure safe levels of emissions are ensured. We were assured that steam is the only product emitted from the two towers and that officials from the Environmental Agency are regularly visiting the site to check emissions.