The Tees Valley Energy Recovery Facility is an infrastructure project for the North East and will provide Darlington, Durham, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Newcastle, Redcar and Cleveland, and Stockton with a secure, reliable and sustainable treatment service for municipal waste from 2026.

Developed by the seven partner authorities in the North East, the Energy Recovery Facility will generate up to 49.9MW of electricity, enough to power more than 60,000 homes.

It will collect and service the residual waste of approximately 1.5 million residents of the North East. Once operational, the facility will treat up to 450,000 tonnes of residual waste every year.

The residues from the process including metals and bottom ash will be recovered or recycled, according to a report published recently by Darlington borough council.

The development will create a few hundred jobs during the construction phase and up to 50 permanent positions once operational, according to Darlington.

The project proposes to include a carbon capture and storage process as an additional feature. If CCS can be successfully deployed it has the potential to become carbon negative.